The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) clarified yesterday that the deadline for SIM registration, which is April 26, 2023, is in accordance with the law.
Remember that the mandatory SIM registration started on December 27, 2022, and will only last for 180 days, or until April 26, 2023.
However, some users have expressed confusion as to whether the deadline will fall in April or June.
The regulators clarified the deadline does not change and remain April 26, 2023.
“Said deadline is in line with the provisions of Republic Act No. 11934, or the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Registration Act, which states that ‘All existing SIMs subscribers shall register the same with their respective PTEs within one hundred eighty (180) days from the effectivity of this Act’,” it said.
Such agencies further said that it is stated in the law that it will be effective 15 days after publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper with general circulation.
They said it was signed on October 10, 2022 and published in the Official Gazette on October 12, 2022 and in a newspaper on October 13, 2022.
“It therefore took effect 15 days after such publication, or no later than 28 October 2022,” it added.
SIM registration deadline on April 26
The DICT also said that although they may extend the registration, their goal for now is to finish it by the original deadline.
As of January 11, more than 17 million SIM cards in the country have been registered.
This represents 10.47% of the more than 169 million mobile cellular subscribers nationwide.
Name, birth date, gender, and mailing address are only a few personal details that users must provide in the SIM registration forms. They must also show a photo ID provided by the government.
To register their SIM cards for free, PLDT and Smart Corporate Communications First Vice President and Group Head Cathy Yang stated their 70 million members need only set aside three minutes.
On the other hand, Yoly Crisanto, Globe Group’s chief sustainability and corporate communications officer, has stated that the company built its own website not too long ago but shut it down to make some system improvements.
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