While the deadline for SIM registration is on April 26, telco companies are appealing to the government to consider an extension for their users who have yet to register their SIM cards. This is despite DICT insisting that they don’t have plans to extend the deadline for SIM registration.
Smart and TNT have filed a formal letter of request to both DICT and NTC to consider an extension for SIM card registration for its users. “While we have led in the number of registrations to date with about 46% of our total number of subscribers already registered, we see the need to give subscribers more time to secure the government IDS required to register their SIMs,” PLDT-Smart Head of Group Corporate Communications Cathy Yang said in a statement.
Globe, likewise, has the same sentiments as well. In its statement, Globe explained that despite having around 27.85 million subscribers–or around 32% of their total subscribers–registered, they still see a low registration count due to the lack of valid government IDs and challenges in terms of digital literacy.
Aside from an appeal for SIM registration extension, Globe gave three suggestions to the government in improving the process. These include:
- Accepting alternative forms of identification (Company IDs, School IDs, Barangay Certificates);
- Conditional registration (allowing users to register their SIM while they are in the process of obtaining a valid government ID); and
- Creating always-on, Government-handled Assisted Registration Centers.
Failure to register SIMs can result in a risk of deactivation, which can be inconvenient for a lot of people–especially those who have their SIMs linked with their bank accounts, social media accounts, and more for One-Time Password (OTP) requests.
