On Tuesday, April 25, Information and Communications Technology Secretary Ivan Uy announced that the SIM card registration deadline had been extended by 90 days. With the extension, people will have until July 25, 2023 to register their SIM cards.
The extension was announced during a news conference in Malacañang. Here, Uy called on those who had yet to register to take advantage of the extension.
“Within that 90-day period, we urge our kababayans to take advantage of this extension to register the SIM cards,” said Uy. “We anticipate there will probably be around 18 to 20 million that still need to be registered.”
In addition, he stated that they were looking into methods to “incentivize” users to register early.
Some of these methods could involve blocking access to social media for those who fail to register within a certain period of time. (Read: Group asks Supreme Court to halt SIM card registration)
“Most of the services will be cut off with the telcos,” explained Justice Secretary Crispin Remulla. “So, there will be a social media unavailability for those who do not register in the next 90 days.”
When it was signed into law, Republic Act No. 11934 or the SIM Registration Act stated that all existing SIM card users had to register within 180 days from the effectivity of the law. However, it also stated that the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) could extend the registration period by another 120 days—30 more than the 90s given in the current extension.
That said, there is no provision within the law that states that the government nor telcos can limit users’ access to social media should they fail to register during the extension period.
Sen. Grace Poe welcomed the move to have the SIM card registration deadline extended. Poe, who was the bill’s sponsor in the senate, explained that lawmakers had considered the compliance of the over 168 million SIM subscribers when the bill was under deliberation and that they had foreseen the need to extend the registration deadline.
“SIM registration was meant to promote the responsible use of SIM and to halt the abuses of scammers and criminals. It is not meant to punish legitimate SIM subscribers, especially those at remote areas,” said Poe.
Poe then called on telcos to step up their efforts to reach out to more subscribers. (Read: How to register your SIM card)
“As most telcos have been enjoying vast profits from their services, they have the corresponding obligation and the necessary resources to track down their SIM users and to widen the opportunity for registration,” she said.
According to the National Telecommunications Commission, about 82,845,397 SIM cards—49.31 percent of users—have been registered as of April 23. The question now is whether the SIM card registration deadline being extended by another 90 days will allow the remaining 50.69 percent of users to register their SIMs.
If you like reading our content, why not show your appreciation by treating us to a cup of coffee? (or two, if you’re feeling generous)