The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said on Friday that there will be no further extension for SIM card registration in the Philippines, despite appeals from some sectors.
The DICT said that the July 25 deadline is final and that unregistered SIM cards will be deactivated starting July 26.
DICT Secretary Ivan Uy said that the SIM card registration is a measure to prevent crimes and scams that use anonymous mobile numbers.
He said that most of the SIM card users have already registered their numbers, especially those who pay for postpaid plans or use e-wallets.
“Based on the data from some of the telcos, the so-called revenue generating SIM, which are postpaid SIM, are at 99%. I think we’re already there. The others are either really stubborn or using the SIM for scams and they really won’t register,” Uy said in a statement.
He added that the DICT has deployed more assisted registration sites to remote areas with little or no connectivity and that an additional 20.3 million users have registered during the previous extension period.
“Majority of them are from geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas (GIDA). So we exhausted their efforts on that,” he said.
Uy also warned the public not to sell their SIM registration credentials or e-wallet accounts to anyone, as they will be held liable for any illegal activities done using their names.
He also advised the public to be wary of scammers who may try to trick them into giving their personal information or money through text messages or social media platforms.
“Never sell your SIM registration credentials or e-wallet account because you will also be held liable since your name is the one registered,” he said.
According to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), users who fail to register their SIM cards by July 25 will not be able to send or receive texts, calls, use mobile data or access their e-wallets.
However, they will still receive reminders from their telcos to reactivate their SIM cards until July 30. The implementing rules and regulations of the SIM Registration Act states that subscribers will have five days from the deadline to reactivate deactivated SIM cards.
The DICT said that as of July 19, over 104 million users have registered their SIM cards out of the total subscriber base of over 168 million.
