A telco representative answers a question from a media person about SIM card registration at the sidelines of a press briefing at the NTC in Quezon City on Friday (Jan. 6, 2023). (PNA photo by Robert Oswald Alfiler)
MANILA – Over 14 million subscriber identity modules (SIM) cards or about 8 percent of active cards in the country have so far been registered since the rollout of SIM registration on Dec. 27.
During a press conference at the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) in Diliman, Quezon City on Friday, NTC Regulation Branch Director Imelda Walcien said as of Jan. 4, a total of 14,050,125 SIM users have so far registered -- made up of 1,200,897 DITO Telecommunity (DITO) subscribers; 6,135,596 Globe Telecom (Globe) subscribers; and 6,713,632 Smart Communications (Smart) subscribers.
The total makes up 8.31 percent of the 168,977,773 active SIM users as of September 2022.
“We are still waiting for the update on the number of subscribers as of December 31, 2022,” Walcien said.
The count is based on daily reports submitted by the country’s three telecommunications companies (telcos).
Walcien said an up-to-date count of SIM registrants is available at the NTC website at https://ntc.gov.ph/.
“We requested telcos to give an update every day and their cut-off is at 11:59 p.m. daily. Their update should be submitted on or before lunch the following day. And we will post the update on our report at 3 p.m. the same day,” Walcien said.
The SIM card registration started on Dec. 27, 2022.
Under the implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act 11934, also known as An Act Requiring the Registration of SIM Cards, mobile phone subscribers with prepaid SIM cards must register and verify their phone numbers with their respective telcos within 180 days from Dec. 27.
READ: Server issues mar SIM card sign-up portals on 1st day
To ensure continued smooth SIM registration, NTC Deputy Commissioner Ella Blanca Lopez said the NTC Task Force was created to help boost the information drive on SIM registration.
“We are hoping that with the continuous information drive of telcos, as well as the assistance of government agencies involved like the NTC, DICT (Department of Information and Communications Technology), CICC (Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center), DILG (Department of the Interior and Local Government), and all of the government agencies that need to be tapped, we will have effective implementation of the law,” Lopez said.
She said the NTC has also coordinated with the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) and cable TV network service providers to advertise and enjoin their viewers to have their SIMs registered.
To date, she said the SIM registration under telcos has been quick and smooth.
“Although understandably for the first few days there have been glitches as any system but they were able to bounce back from that and we have 14 million registrants so far,” she said. (PNA)
