TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, Mar 4 (PIA)—Are you but ready to be holding a deactivated phone in a little over a month?
By the SIM Registration Law timelines, by this time, public telecommunications entities (PTEs) should have already registered 90 million subscribers, but reports bared that to date, only a little over 30 million subscribers have been registered.
AT this, prospects of mobile phone users getting discontinued services after April 26 appear most likely as the country’s public telecommunications entities report depressing registration accomplishments, a little less than two months into April 26.
Of the country’s estimated 183 million mobile phone subscriber whose subscriber information module (SIM) needs to be registered in line with the SIM registration law, only about 30 million subscribers have registered their SIMs, according to the reports.
That means in the next two months, PTEs need to register 45 million subscribers, possibly swamping the systems and getting all kinds of inconveniences.
In fact, during the SIM sign-in event organized by the Philippine Information Agency’s (PIA) Association of United Development Information Officers (AUDIO) in Bohol, National Telecommunications Commission said their latest figure indicates that the country has accomplished only a little over 20% SIM registered, after two months of registrations.
The popular SIM card Law, or Republic Act No. 11934, is a Philippine law mandating the registration of SIM cards before activation.
Under the same measure, mobile device users, including prepaid and postpaid, must register their SIM cards within 180 days after the implementation of the law, or they face the inconvenience of getting their mobile phone services deactivated.
The SIM Registration Act forces the registration of all SIM cards, in efforts to promote proper accountability and allow law enforcement agencies with a the facility to solve mobile phone crimes and identify the owner of a number that is being used illegally.
The first law signed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the SIM Registration Act was implemented starting December 27, and continues until April 26, when non registrants can start experiencing the discomfort of deactivated numbers and discontinued services.
In a country with a population of only about 113 million, many subscribers keep mobile phones with dual SIM cards, that the 183 million total subscribers could still yet be a conservative estimate.
But with 183 million subscribers to be registered in four months, the PTEs should be able to register a total of 45 million a month, to beat the April 26 deadline.
Two months after December 27, the PTEs could only manage a little over 30 million, further heightening the possibility of over half of the country’s phone subscribers getting deactivated for not getting registered in time.
While there is still time, register your Smart or TNT SIM card by accessing the Smart SIM registration portal smart.com.ph/simreg and provide your personal information.
Then upload a valid photo identification to the registration portal, making sure that the identification is current.
Then confirm all details and click on submit button, await for Smart’s verification of your personal information and SIM registration.
For Globe and TM SIM card subscribers, go to the SIM card registration portal new.globe.com.ph/simreg and fill in personal details.
Then upload a photo identification to the registration portal, making sure the ID is still active, confirm all information and click submit, after which Globe confirms the information and the SIM registration. (rahc/PIA_7/Bohol)
