The program is only a fourth of the way in but the mandatory subscriber identify module or SIM registration program appears initially successful with text scams having dropped 93 percent thus far.
The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) said complaints over text scams fell to only around 100 per day from more or less 1,500 complaints a day after the implementation of the SIM registration.
NTC branch officer-in-charge and head of legal affairs Andres D. Castelar, Jr. projects a further decline once all SIM cards are registered in the system.
As of March 9, 2023, the various public telecommunications entities (PTEs) reported 42.7M successful SIM registrations representing 25.24 percent of the total 168 million active SIM subscribers as of September 2022.
Smart Communications Inc. alone reported 21.8 million of its SIMs have been registered or 32 percent of its 67,995,734 subscribers. Globe Telecom Inc. reported 17.6 registered SIMs or 20 percent of its 87.8 million subscribers.
DITO Telecommunity Corp. reported a total 3.2 SIMs or 24 percent of its 13,108,103 subscribers.
To encourage more subscribers to register, Castelar said the NTC recently held an information caravan in Malabon and Caloocan, targeting senior citizens.
Castelar assured the Malabon and Caloocan residents in attendance that their personal information is protected by the SIM Registration Law.
“The telecom providers are the custodians of the SIM Register and the law provides harsh penalties for intentional disclosures of SIM registration data or breaches caused by negligence,” Castelar said.
Telecom providers have since kept postpaid subscriber data confidential over the years. The SIM register allows prepaid subscribers to retain their prepaid numbers in the event of loss or damage because all important data is stored in the SIM register.
The caravan complements the NTC’s continuing conduct of facilitated SIM registration in remote areas of the country.
To date, 222 remote areas have been visited by the NTC SIM registration caravan.
The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) had said the original April 26, 2023 SIM registration deadline may be extended another 120 days consistent with NTC-issued implementing rules and regulations.
