MANILA (Agencies): President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Tuesday approved the 90-day extension of the mandatory SIM registration beyond the April 26 deadline.
According to the video posted by Radio Television Malacañang on Facebook, failure to register within the given period of extension will result in limited SIM services from the telecommunication companies.
Marcos directed the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to make a public announcement regarding the extension.
The 90-day extension was first announced by Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla earlier in the day.
“There’s a 90-day extension,” Remulla said.
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.
From the 82 million registered SIMs, more than 37 million are Globe subscribers, more than 39 million are Smart subscribers and over five million are Dito subscribers.
The DICT is aiming to register 70% of active SIMs within the 90-day extension.
Under the SIM Card Registration Act, the original deadline for the mandatory SIM registration is on Wednesday, April 26, 2023.
The law mandates all public telecommunications entities (PTEs) to establish their respective registration platforms to onboard users who present valid identification cards.
Users are given 180 days or until April 26, 2023 to register their SIMs or else face the risk of having them deactivated.
“Most of the services that come with the cellphones that are not registered will be cut off with the telcos,” Remulla said on Tuesday.
“So there will be a social media unavailability for those who do not register.”
In the Senate, Senator Grace Poe, principal sponsor of the law, welcomed the development and mentioned that lawmakers have foreseen the need for an extension period during their deliberations to be able to accommodate all 168 million SIM subscribers.
With this, Poe urged the telecommunications companies to “go down to the grassroots” and reach out to their subscribers.
“As most telcos have been enjoying vast profits from their services, they have the corresponding obligation and the necessary resources to track down their SIM users and to widen the opportunity for registration,” Poe, chairperson of the Senate public services committee, said.
