(SIM) Registration deadline won’t be extended – DICT

[Lee]

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MANILA, Philippines — The government will start deactivating unregistered mobile numbers on July 26, insisting that it has given enough time for subscribers to enlist their SIM.

“No extension because July 25 is a hard deadline. Those who have yet to register by 12:01 a.m. of July 26, they will no longer be able to access connectivity services,” Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Ivan John Uy warned yesterday.

Subscribers who fail to register before the upcoming deadline will lose access to mobile services like calls, data and texts, unless they reactivate their SIM.

When a SIM is deactivated, its owner will be given five days to reactivate it through registration, or else the telco provider will shut the mobile number for good.

“Based on the data of some of the telcos, they have registered 99 percent of their revenue generating base, meaning subscribers who actively buy a load or pay for a postpaid plan,” Uy said.

He said it is safe to assume now that unregistered numbers belong to one-time users like scammers and telemarketers.

“We are already there and those who have yet to register are either hardheaded people or really involved in scams,” he added.

Republic Act 11934, or the SIM Registration Act, mandates all consumers to register their SIM with the goal of eliminating the prevalence of digital fraud, particularly messaging scams.

Originally, the government was supposed to end SIM registration in the initial deadline of April 26, but this was moved to July 25 due to appeals from the telco industry to capture mainly subscribers in areas with weak to no cellular signal.

Both Smart Communications Inc. and Globe Telecom Inc. believe that consumers were provided with enough time to register their SIM.

Globe, for one, has even made SIM registration available through e-wallet application GCash to simplify the procedure for everyone.

Based on records, telco operators have covered 62 percent, or 104.33 million, of the 168 million SIM nationwide, with Smart leading the tally registering 74 percent of its subscriber base, ahead of Globe’s 55 percent and Dito Telecommunity Corp.’s 50 percent.

 

 

Deactivation of SIM cards starts July 26 (msn.com)

[Mike J]

54 minutes ago, Lee said:

The government will start deactivating unregistered mobile numbers on July 26

I hope it is more accurate to say the government has ordered the telcos to deactivate the unregistered numbers.