The SIM Card Registration Act, officially known as Republic Act No. 11934 and commonly known as the SIM Card Act, is a Philippine law that requires SIM card registration prior to activation. As part of this measure, mobile device users must register their SIM cards, whether prepaid or postpaid.
Registration for subscriber identity module (SIM) cards will be extended by 90 days or until July 25, Attorney General Jesus Crispin Remulla announced on Tuesday. However, after the initial deadline on April 26, subscribers will have limited access to the services until they finally sign up.
“Most of the services will be cut off with the telcos (telecommunications companies). So, there will be a social media unavailability for those who do not register in the next 90 days,” Remulla said in an interview after attending a Cabinet team meeting.
Meanwhile, Senator Grace Poe called for increased dissemination of information about Republic Act 11934 or SIM card registration law when the deadline has been extended. Poe, chairman of the Senate committee on public service, said the extension would help clear up confusion and concerns among subscribers about the law.
“It should be emphasized that SIMs will still be available in local retailers and sari-sari stores even past the SIM Registration deadline. Users will simply be required to register first before they can activate their new SIMs,”
“SIM registration was meant to promote the responsible use of SIM and to halt the abuses of scammers and criminals. It is not meant to punish legitimate SIM subscribers, especially those at remote areas.” she said in a statement as she welcomed the decision to extend the registration.
She recalls that when the SIM card registration bill was being considered, lawmakers looked at the compliance of more than 168 million SIM subscribers and anticipated the need to extend the subscription period to accommodate all both users.
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Poe was the bill’s sponsor in the Senate. As of April 23, National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) data show that about 82,845,397, or 49.31 percent of SIM cards have been registered. The breakdown is as follows:
DITO: 5,796,175 or 38.73 percent
Globe: 37,099,437 or 42.77 percent
SMART: 39,949,785 or 60.25 percent
“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,” she said.
Poe reiterated his call for telecom companies to learn the basics to reach more subscribers. Poe noted that while some locations have been accessed for remote registration, others need to be covered as key areas, such as Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, are yet to be accessed approach, according to NTC data sources. The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) should also tackle the growing problem of spam messages despite the ongoing SIM registration, she said.
Meanwhile, two days before the deadline for SIM card registration, DICT and its affiliates met with officials of the country’s three public telecommunications units (PTEs) – Globe, Smart and DITO – to discuss concerns about the implementation of RA 11934. In a statement, DICT said it exchanged views with the three companies on how to address a number of issues faced by applicants, such as such as barriers to obtaining government-issued IDs and documents, as well as improvements in the SIM card application process. Only one of 17 government-issued IDs and documents is required to complete registration, DICT said.
“The possibility of extending the SIM registration period was also discussed during the meeting. We advise everyone to await the official announcement of the Department on the matter,” the statement read. Filipinos are encouraged to register their SIM cards before the deadline.
“The increasing number of registrants in the past few days is a clear indication that Filipinos share the desire to eradicate online and text scams once and for all,” the DICT said. RA 11934, which was the first measure signed into law by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Oct. 10, 2022, aims to fight scams being made through text and online messages. On Dec. 27, 2022, the 180-day SIM card registration began and was supposed to end on April 26, 2023.
SIM cards already in use but not registered during the sign-up period will be deactivated while new cards must be registered upon purchase. In a statement, PLDT-Smart head of corporate communications Cathy Yang welcomed the extension as it would give more time to their subscribers to register as well as allow PTEs to intensify their registration campaigns.
“With regards to the gradual deactivation being evaluated by the DICT, the discussions among the DICT, the NTC, and the mobile network operators are still ongoing. Our initial assessment is that it would be difficult for us to implement due to time constraints,” Yang said.
On the other hand, Darius Delgado, the Globe’s head of consumer mobile business, welcomed the expansion and urged his subscribers to sign up by visiting their website.
“If you are having a hard time registering your SIMs, you can go to our Globe Stores and EasyHubs and we will provide the necessary assistance,” Delgado said.
Meanwhile, District 2 Representative of Camarines Sur, Luis Raymund Villafuerte Jr. said with the extension, the government has been careful to avoid excluding Filipinos from digital and financial access.
“A non-extension of the registration period will have led to the disenfranchisement come Wednesday (April 26) of the legion of legit SIM owners who had failed to sign up, thereby dealing a severe blow to the Marcos administration’s efforts to fast-track our country’s digital transformation,” Villafuerte said in a press statement.
He said the three-month grace period will allow DICT, NTC and PTE (public telecommunications organizations) to further strengthen their listing campaigns from now on and the government to address the issues, such as strict identification requirements, weak or non-existent connectivity, and other digital challenges can cause low enrollment participation rates.
Villafuerte, co-author of the legislation in the House of Commons, notes that the DICT itself has shown that greater participation in the registry would give law enforcement better tools to crack down on Powerful nefarious groups have used their SIM cards in their cybercrime.
