56% of Pinoy SIM owners registered as of March 2023 —SWS

A month before the original deadline, 56% of adult Filipino SIM card owners had registered their SIMs while 44% have yet to do so, according to a Social Weather Survey (SWS).

According to the survey conducted in March, SIM card registration was highest in the Visayas at 64% and lowest in Mindanao at 50%. Metro Manila scored 62% and Balance Luzon 55%.

SIM card registration was higher in urban areas (60%) than in rural areas (51%), the SWS said.

Among those who registered, 72% said the SIM card registration process was “very/somewhat easy” and 28% said it was “somewhat/very hard.”

Majorities across basic demographics said the SIM card registration process was “very/somewhat easy,” except in Mindanao at only 54%.

The percentage of registrants who said the registration process was easy were higher in urban areas at 75% than in rural areas at 65%.

It was also slightly higher among those who either had senior high school, vocational school, college, or postgraduate education.

The First Quarter 2023 SWS was conducted from March 26-29, 2023, using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults nationwide: 300 each in Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

The sampling error margins are ±2.8% for national percentages, ±5.7% each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

Under the SIM Card Registration Act, users have 180 days, or until April 26, 2023, to register their SIM cards or else face the risk of having these deactivated.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., however, has approved the 90-day extension of the SIM registration period, moving the deadline to July 25, 2023. —KBK, GMA Integrated News