Philippines SIM registration ends, one-third risking cutoff

The Philippines’ mandatory registration for Subscriber Identification Modules (SIMs) concludes today (25 July), with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) reporting that as of 19 July, a total of 104,076,843 SIMs had been successfully registered.

DICT confirmed numbers

DICT’s data confirmed that PLDT’s Smart Communications had registered 49,201,007 SIMs by that date, or 74.20% of its total, followed closely by Globe Telecom with 47,474,937 (54.73%), and DITO Telecommunity in third with 7,400,899 registered SIMs – or 49.45% of its total. Taken overall, meanwhile, DICT noted that out of the 168,061,400 subscriptions reported in the country on 31 December 2022 when the scheme kicked off, 61.94% of them have now responded to the government’s SIM Registration initiative in what has, at times, been a troublesome affair.

Philippines consumers ured register their SIM cards

As recently as last weekend, the country’s Presidential Communications Office (PCO) appealed to Filipinos, urging them to register their SIM cards to avoid losing access to mobile services. ‘Register now to avoid deactivation of your SIM card and still use it to call, text, and use your mobile data,’ the PCO reported on Facebook while directing them to use the eGovPH app for easy registration. President Marcos launched the eGovPH ‘super’ app last month, allowing Filipinos to access various government services through a single online application – including registering their SIM.

Deactivating unregistered mobile numbers

Ivan John Uy, ICT Secretary at DICT, has warned users it will start deactivating unregistered mobile numbers on 26 July 2023. Subscribers who fail to register before the upcoming deadline will lose access to mobile services like calls, data and texts unless they reactivate their SIM, he is quoted as saying. Once deactivated, the owner has a five-day grace period in which to register (to reactivate), after which it will be lost for good.

The new rules are expected to increase security while giving the government access to necessary information in order to prevent fraud, counterfeiting, and other crimes.