DICT: SIM card sales low due to registration law

The sale of SIM cards in the Philippines has slowed down after its mandatory registration was enacted, something that the government now attributes to the fear created by syndicates and scammers who use mobile phones.

This was shared by Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Ivan Uy Tuesday in a Palace press briefing.

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“On the commercial side, itong mga resellers, Since nag-announce tayo nito, bumagsak po ang bentahan nila ng SIM cards. Dahil dati, itong mga scammers, itong mga sindikato, bili nang bili ng SIM card. Tapon, SIM card, tapon,” said Uy.

“Ngayon alam nilang hindi nila magagawa ‘yan, so bumagsak ngayon ‘yung bentahan ng sim card which we actually anticipated… After all these registration, there will be much fewer sim cards that would be sold because there will be no more demand.”

Despite this, the DICT did not mention specific data on how many SIM card sales were lost due to the law. It’s also not true that people no longer receive spam texts.

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In October 2022, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed the controversial SIM card registration law, promising to use it to combat crimes committed using them.

DICT: SIM card sales low due to registration law

Despite this, security issues and espionage using it are of concern to many sectors due to the personal information that will be requested.

The early registration of SIM cards experienced problems because the websites shut down because users wanted to sign up simultaneously.

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“Most likely, karamihan siguro ng SIM cards binebenta sa airports dahil sa mga travelers, foreigners coming in that will buy their SIM cards,” added Uy.

“But in terms of the local population, the sales will be very, very small once this happens. Those are the things that we are studying and anticipating and preparing for.”

It has reached 20 million users who have been able to register so far, less than a month after its implementing rules and regulations were released.

DICT first said that SIM cards currently in use would be deactivated if not registered by April 26.

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