DICT expects problems in SIM card registration

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said there will be an online system to register subscriber identity module (SIM) cards after Republic Act No. 11934, or the SIM Registration Act, was enacted into law last Monday.

DICT Secretary Ivan Uy said at the Laging Handa briefing that they are facing difficulties in meeting the 180-day deadline to register all postpaid and prepaid SIM cards because there are already 144 million to 150 million prepaid cards issued.

RA 11934 was published last Oct. 12 in the Official Gazette and will take effect after 15 days.

Uy said the government has 60 days from the law’s effectivity to finalize the law’s implementing rules and regulations. The rules will be threshed out by the National Telecommunications Commission, the DICT, the trade department, the National Privacy Commission, telcos, and major consumer groups. —JEROME ANING

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