MULTITASKING Two pedestrians use their cell phones while crossing a street in Taguig City. —RICHARD A. REYES
MANILA, Philippines — Telecommunication companies Smart Communications and Globe Telecom have asked the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) and the National Telecommunications Commission to extend the April 26 deadline for mandatory subscriber identity module (SIM) card registration.
With only a few weeks left, the compliance rate has yet to breach the 50-percent mark despite the setting up of registration assistance booths, especially in remote areas with poor internet connectivity.
“We are filing this request to help give ample time to all mobile users, particularly the marginalized sectors and those located in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas of the country, to register their SIMs,” PLDT and Smart first vice president and head of group corporate communications Cathy Yang said in a statement on Wednesday.
According to the law, the deadline can be extended by another 120 days, if needed. The DICT said on Tuesday that it was still mulling over the extension.
As of April 11, the DICT reported that 66.22 million SIM cards had been registered. Smart users accounted for the majority with 32.93 million SIM cards, followed by Globe with 28.33 million and DITO Telecommunity with 4.95 million.
However, they represented only 39.41 percent of the total 168 million SIM cards.
No valid IDs
Globe, on the other hand, said that it had “continued its awareness and educational campaigns through sustained digital posts, in-app notifications, use of traditional media, face-to-face communications and instructional videos to drive urgency to register their SIMs.”
The telcos underscored that meeting the ID requirement for the mandatory registration was also a concern.
“[We] appeal to the government to extend the SIM registration process to give our customers more time to get their required government IDs and input the required information on our site,” Globe said.
“[We] see the need to give subscribers more time to secure the government IDs required to register their SIMs,” Yang added. Globe suggested that alternative forms of identification be accepted such as company and school IDs and barangay certificates.
‘Disruptive’
The telco giants stressed that SIM deactivation—the repercussion of not complying with the registration mandate—would adversely affect consumers. “SIM deactivation will result [in] you losing the load balance you may still have,” Yang said. In addition, she noted that consumers would not be able to receive one-time passwords—usually sent via mobile messages—for their digital financial transactions.
“Failure to register SIMs [will] result in deactivation and will be very disruptive to our customers, as their basic right to communication will be curtailed,” Globe said.
A SIM card registration law was passed last year in a bid to curb the proliferation of text scams as it removes the anonymity of users, which is being exploited by cyber hackers.