Poe to gov’t, telcos: Work with 5G speed in urging public to register SIM

The government agencies and the telecommunication companies should now work with full speed in urging the public to register their SIM, Senator Grace Poe said a day after the Supreme Court denied the bid to issue a temporary restraining order against the implementation of the SIM Registration Act.

“The Supreme Court's verdict on the SIM Law is a big boost as registration continues. It affirms the need to have all mobile subscribers get enlisted for our safe mobile use,” Poe said.

“We urge concerned government agencies and telcos to work with 5G speed to get the public to register their SIM,” she added.

Poe also raised the need for concerned government agencies and telecommunication companies to address issues in SIM registration, specifically the lack of government IDs by some mobile users which she said prevent or discourage them from complying with the law.

“We aim for a law that is inclusive to give our people a secure mobile environment,” she said.

The SC's decision came on the same day President Ferdinand "Bongbong"  Marcos Jr. approved the 90-day extension of the mandatory SIM registration beyond the April 26 deadline.

Users were previously given 180 days to register their SIMs or else face the risk of having them deactivated.

The SIM Registration Act seeks to end crimes using the platform including text and online scams by regulating the sale and the use of SIMs. It mandates all public telecommunications entities (PTEs) to establish their respective registration platforms to onboard users who present valid identification cards.

As of Sunday, April 23, more than 82 million SIM cards have been registered or 49.31% of total active SIMs as of December 2022. At present, there are 168,016,400 total number of active SIMs in the Philippines.—AOL, GMA Integrated News