EDITORIAL — Registration extended

Three days before the original deadline for the registration of subscriber identity module cards, National Telecommunications Commission data showed that 82,845,397 SIMs – constituting only 49.31 percent of the total – had been registered.

Of the figure, Smart accounted for 60.25 percent or nearly 40 million; Globe, 42.77 percent or over 37 million, and DITO 38.73 percent or nearly 5.8 million. The three public telecommunications entities or PTEs had requested an extension of the registration period due to the low registry turnout.

With over half of SIMs still not registered, President Marcos yesterday approved a 90-day extension of the April 26 deadline, or until July 25. After April 26, however, officials announced that the government will gradually limit access to various social media services such as TikTok.

Republic Act 11934 or the SIM Registration Act was signed into law last year amid the proliferation of phishing, smishing and other forms of digital fraud, and as part of efforts to fight the spread of disinformation, fake news, trolling and other malicious and illegal activities.

It’s likely that persons or entities engaged in these illegal activities account for a good number of the SIM cards that remain unregistered on the eve of the original deadline.

Many others, however, are held by people who simply find SIM registration too complicated, such as the elderly who tend to be less tech-savvy than the younger generations. Others also have problems presenting a government-issued ID as the national ID system has not yet been completed.

The PTEs have set up help booths in malls and other strategic public spaces to facilitate the registration. Together with local government units, the PTEs can make registration easier in remote areas. The national government and LGUs will also have to intensify the information drive to facilitate registration, which is complicated only for prepaid SIM holders. For post-paid subscribers, registration takes less than a minute through a cell phone.

At the same time, lawmakers want the PTEs to intensify efforts to stop spam messages, which continue to proliferate amid the SIM registration. With millions of SIMs still not registered, however, this is not entirely surprising. Ending the spam messages should provide additional impetus to encourage SIM registration.