Should SIM card registration deadline be extended? DICT weighs its options
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is still mulling whether or not to extend the deadline for the registration of SIM cards.
On Friday, DICT Undersecretary Anna Mae Lamentillo said the agency is still monitoring the number of registrants, which currently stands at around 45.8 million, or 27.12% of the 169 million SIM cards in use nationwide.
“Patuloy tayong nag-momonitor sa dami ng nag-rerehistro bawat araw at ito ay magiging basehan kung itutuloy ‘yung extension o hindi,” Lamentillo said in a public briefing.
(We are monitoring the number of registrants per day; this will be our basis for whether we will have an extension.)
“Ngayon pinag-aaralan yung possibility of an extension but we haven’t decided yet. We will make an announcement as soon as a decision has been made,” she added.
(We are studying the possibility of an extension but we haven’t decided yet.)
Lamentillo said the DICT has coordinated with barangay officials to help ramp up the registration process and is urging mobile phone service subscribers to have their SIM cards registered.
She said under the SIM Card Registration law’s implementing rules and regulations. The DICT can extend the April 26 deadline to 120 days.
Of the 45.8 million subscribers who have registered their SIM Cards, 23.4 million are from Smart, 18.9 million are from Globe and 3.4 million are from Dito Telecommunications.
