State regulators on Monday said that telcos and regulators are working overtime in encouraging Filipinos to register their subscriber identification modules (SIM) now that later, with deadline approaching and only 21 percent of the total mobile numbers being registered.
National Telecommunication Commission Deputy Commissioner Jon Paulo Salvahan said in an interview that telcos and operators are ramping up their efforts with 35.3 million out of the total 168 million SIMs in the country have been registered.
“Twenty-one percent pa lang po ng total number of active SIMs [ang registered]. Bumabagal lang po talaga ang rate ng pagrehistro ng ating mga kababayan kaya ang government [at telcos] pinapaigting ang efforts para hikayatin ang ating mga kababayan na magrehistro na ng maaga,” Salvahan said.
(There are only 21 percent of the total number of active SIM cards registered. The registration slowed down that is why the government and the telcos boosted their efforts to encourage our citizenry to register early)
The deadline for the registration is on April 26. It is less than two months. The government and stakeholders are also holding facilitated SIM registration in remote areas.
A law required the registration of all active SIMs to help eliminate SMS-linked scams, among others.
Earlier, the Department of Information and Communications Technology said that they do not any possible extension, adding that they are expecting the lull.
But the DICT said that instead of thinking about extending the deadline on April 26, 2023, they are working on having the subscriber register on time.
“We are almost halfway into the implementation of the SIM registration, and we have observed a slowdown in the number of registrants. Although we anticipated this lull, we are compelled to do more,” DICT Undersecretary Anna Mae Lamentillo said.
She said that they are planning to boost their efforts in encouraging more users to register their SIM cards, after the slowdown that has been observed halfway into the implementation of the prescribed registration period.
She said that this can be done by boosting their information and education campaigns.
Under the SIM Card Registration Act, all public telecommunication entities (PTEs) are mandated to establish their respective registration platforms to onboard users who present valid identification cards.
SIM card owners who fail to register before the deadline face the risk of having them deactivated.
This is according to the implementing rules and regulations of the SIM Card Registration Act that was effective December 27, after being signed by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. last October.
CURRENTPH NEWS SERVICE
