Telcos struggle to meet SIM registration deadline due to lack of IDs

SMART Communications, Inc., the wireless subsidiary of PLDT Inc., said on Wednesday that extending the registration period for subscriber identity modules (SIM) is needed to give subscribers more time to obtain government-issued identification cards (IDs).

“While we have led in the number of registrations to date with about 46% of our total number of subscribers already registered, which is higher than industry average, we see the need to give subscribers more time to secure the government IDs required to register their SIMs,” said Catherine Y. Yang, first vice-president and head of group corporate communications of PLDT and Smart.

Smart released a statement announcing its plan to submit a formal letter of request to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) to extend the deadline, currently set for April 26, of the SIM registration process.

Globe Telecom, Inc. said on Tuesday that the low count of registrations was due to the shortage of government-issued IDs.

The Ayala-led telco has proposed expanding the acceptable forms of identification for registration and the implementation of conditional registration.

“I think these suggestions could be reasonable,”  DICT Assistant Secretary for CyberSecurity and Upskilling Jeffrey Ian C. Dy told BusinessWorld on Wednesday.

“What we can really do is to talk with the telecommunication companies, and if they have suggestions, they can write a position letter and send it to our office addressed to the Secretary,” he added.

“Maybe we can expand the identification cards that can be presented. I also think school IDs could be included with the aid of the registration form.”

According to Mr. Dy, the DICT, NTC, and representatives of the telecommunication companies are set to have a meeting on Friday.

The DICT, under Republic Act 11934 or the SIM Registration Act, has the prerogative to extend the SIM registration process for another 120 days.

“There is no policy yet for extension. It is currently being discussed and we are mindful of the April 26 deadline vis-a-vis the very low adoption or registration statistics,” Mr. Dy said.

At the same time, he expressed concern that if the department extends the registration deadline, unregistered subscribers may become more complacent.

“If we will extend it, perhaps we will extend it for a short period of time but we want to avoid complacency. We are still discussing it, we will have to discuss it too with the NTC,” he added. According to the DICT’s latest records on April 11, 66.22 million SIMs have been registered, representing 39.41% of the total number of subscribers in the country.

Of the total registered SIMs, 32.93 million were from Smart, 28.33 million from Globe, and 4.95 million from DITO Telecommunity Corp.

Meanwhile, Terry L. Ridon, public investment analyst and convenor of think tank InfraWatch PH, said that the government should extend full liberality to the public and allow the extension of SIM registration beyond its current deadline.

“However, without new rules relaxing registration requirements, the documentary requirements in both law and implementing rules should be maintained,” Mr. Ridon said.

He added that Congress should look at the ongoing results of SIM registration “if it is achieving its purpose.”

“Currently, the public continues to receive spam texts, particularly from online gaming outfits based in the Philippines. If SIM registration were in the least bit successful, there should be no SMS spams by now,” he said. — Justine Irish D. Tabile