Philippine SIM card registration at 15% –DICT

Over 15% of all the SIM cards across the Philippines have been registered with their respective public telecommunication entities (PTEs) as of Saturday, January 28, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) reported.

Citing data from the telecommunications firms, the DICT said a total of 26,637,515 SIM cards were registered as of 11:59 p.m. on January 28, translating to 15.76% of the 168.977 million nationwide.

Broken down, Smart Communications Inc. reported 13.632 million or 20.05% of its 67.995 million subscribers, Globe Telecom Inc. with 10.883 million or 12.39% of its 87.873 million subscribers, and DITO Telecommunity Corp. with 2.121 million or 16.19% of its 13.108 million subscribers.

The IRR of the SIM Card Registration Act took effect on December 27, after the measure was signed into law by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. last October.

The law mandates all public telecommunications entities (PTEs) to establish their registration platforms where they will onboard users who present valid identification cards. Users are given 180 days to register their SIM cards, or else face the risk of having these deactivated.

PTEs earlier said they were all set for the registration process, but birthing pains were expected during the initial stages. The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has since ordered them to report any problems encountered by users during the registration.

“The DICT is working with PTEs to address the public’s feedback so we can improve the SIM Registration experience for everyone,” DICT Spokesperson Anna May Lamentillo said in a statement released Sunday.

“We also remind subscribers that their personal information remains protected under the Data Privacy Act. Under this law, PTEs are required to secure subscribers’ data with mandatory encryption of data,” she added.

To register SIM cards, users of DITO Telecommunity Corp. can visit https://dito.ph/registerDITO, Globe Telecom Inc. at https://new.globe.com.ph/simreg, and Smart at https://smart.com.ph/simreg.

The NTC earlier this month also rolled out the registration of SIM cards in remote areas across the country, to assist in the implementation of the SIM Card Registration Act. — DVM, GMA Integrated News