EDITORIAL - They better get a move on

By the time this editorial comes out those who have not yet registered their Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards have just six more days, including today, to do so.

This after the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said the other day that an extension of the registration is not being considered. The deadline remains April 26.

“At this point, there is no extension of SIM registration,” the DICT said in a statement.

Of course, things may yet change, because as provided under Republic Act 11934 or the SIM Registration Act, the deadline can be extended to up to 120 more days. But why take the chance that the looming deadline six days from now is final and can no longer be moved?

As of April 10 the number of registered SIM cards reached 62.1 million, a mere 36.79% of the total 168.9 million SIM cards sold nationwide as estimated by the DICT. That means some 100 million users majority of SIM card users have yet to register their SIM cards.

As mentioned in a previous editorial, those who haven’t registered their SIM cards yet better should act now and fast. With the number of days left to do so getting fewer and fewer, there is a chance that those almost 100 million will flood the online portals during the last few precious days, causing signal traffic, which is a real thing.

Again, this is a matter that should be treated with utmost urgency as failing to register may result in deactivation of that SIM card. There is no doubt that the time allotted to SIM card users by Republic Act 11934 was more than enough to register, it just so happened that many of us want to put off things we don’t want to do until the last minute.

Many of us don’t just rely on SIM cards for entertainment, many of us use them for our work, for our business, and to keep in touch with our family and friends. If they don’t want to lose accessibility they had better get a move on.