SIM registration hits nearly 27 million a month after rollout, says DICT

THE Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said 26.64 million subscriber identity module (SIM) cards have been registered as of Jan. 28, or a month after the registration law was rolled out.

“Based on records provided by the public telecommunication entities, the total number is 15.76% of the 168,977,773 million subscribers nationwide,” the DICT said in its latest report.

PLDT Inc.’s Smart Communications, Inc. reported a total of 13,632,034 SIM cards registered, accounting for 20.05% of its 67,995,734 users.

Globe Telecom, Inc., on the other hand, reported 10,883,887 registered users, or 12.39% of its 87,873,936 subscribers.

Meanwhile, third telco player DITO Telecommunity Corp. reported a total of 2,121,594 SIM cards registered, or 16.19% of its 13,108,103 subscribers.

The telcos are “continuously improving the process to ensure a smooth registration experience for end-users,” DICT Spokesperson and Undersecretary Anna Mae Y. Lamentillo said.

“As the deadline is set on the 26th of April 2023, we assure the public that SIM Registration will reach even the remote areas of the country,” she added.

Smart said its customers may go to SM Supermalls across the country to register their SIM cards.

“As of Jan. 30, Smart booths and touch points offering assisted SIM Registration services for prepaid and postpaid subscribers have been deployed in 36 SM establishments from Cauayan, Isabela in North Luzon, all the way to General Santos, South Cotabato in Mindanao,” the telco said in an e-mailed statement on Monday.

It said that eight more SM establishments will host Smart and TNT-assisted SIM registration booths in the next few days, bringing to 44 the total count of covered SM Supermalls.

Meanwhile, Globe said it has registered more than 11 million active prepaid SIM cards as of Jan. 30.

“We understand the importance of addressing the proliferation of scam and spam messages and have made it our priority to provide our customers with a seamless registration process. We are committed to meeting the deadline and continuing our efforts to protect our customers from scammers and fraudsters,” Globe said in a separate statement.

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