ILOILO City – The subscriber identity module (SIM) registration is closed. All unregistered SIM cards are automatically deactivated beginning 12:01 a.m. today.
Lawyer Deo Virgil Tan, National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) Region 6 legal officer, said public telecommunication entities (PTEs) or telecommunication companies such as Globe, Smart and DITO confirmed this.
“Impunto gid sang first second sang July 26, automatic na-deactivate na ang tanan nga unregistered SIM,” Tan told Panay News yesterday.
“Deactivated state” refers to the condition or status of a SIM that renders it incapable of being used for outgoing and incoming calls, internet access, or sending and receiving messages, except for exclusively enabling and informing such a SIM to be registered.
“Ang law [Republic Act (RA) 11934, or the SIM Registration Act] mismo nagahambal nga one extension lang unless the law will be amended,” Tan said.
There has been no pronouncement from the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) of another extension of the SIM registration.
But PTEs will give subscribers a five-day grace period to register.
“May grace period of five days after sang deactivation. So, once the SIM will be deactivated may ara sila five days nga mag-reactivate sang SIM card,” dugang ni Tan.
How to reactivate?
All subscribers who want to reactivate their SIM during the five-day grace period will have to go to the branches or offices of PTEs to get assistance, Tan said.
Newly bought SIM cards should also be registered. Under the law, unlike before, all new SIM cards are automatically deactivated.
As of July 23, the DICT said 105,260,340 SIM cards have been registered with them including 48,019,084 from Globe, 49,740,428 from Smart, and 7,500,828 from DITO.
To recall, the DICT, with the approval of the President, extended the SIM registration for 90 days starting April 25.
The original deadline of SIM registration was on April 26 but due to the low number of registered subscribers, the deadline was moved to July 25.
RA 11934, which was the first measure signed into law by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Oct. 10, 2022, aims to fight scams being made through text and online messages.
On Dec. 27, 2022, the 180-day SIM card registration began and was supposed to end on April 26, 2023./PN
