MANILA, Philippines — Some lawmakers urged government agencies and telecommunications companies to use the 90-day extension of the SIM registration to reach out to unregistered users, especially those who do not have internet access.
Sen. Grace Poe, who shepherded the SIM Registration Act in the Senate, emphasized the need for the National Telecommunications Commission and telcos to mobilize and go down to the grassroots to reach out to more subscribers, especially in rural and remote areas.
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“It should be all hands on deck in expanding the reach of SIM Registration and in ensuring that no one gets left behind,” Poe said in a statement.
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III said the extension period should be used to disseminate through different media platforms the need for legitimate SIM users to register.
SIM Registration Act co-sponsor Sen. Jinggoy Estrada added that telcos should make registration “fuss-free,” adding that he has received information that the process is not user-friendly, while many are still complaining that they cannot register due to lack of internet connectivity.
“No amount of information dissemination will work if the mobile network carriers will not address the concerns of the general public,” Estrada said in a statement.
Rep. Elizaldy Co (AKO BICOL party-list) stressed that assistance must be given to senior citizens, persons with disability and special needs, and solo parents and working parents in registering their SIMs.
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, meanwhile, said in a media interview that he respects the decision of the government to extend SIM registration, but added that it is unlikely that all SIM users will register.
“There are 120 million SIM cards, prepaid SIM cards. Our population is 109 million, so does that mean that even babies and children have prepaid SIMs?” Gatchalian said in Filipino. “What we know is that a lot of our countrymen have more than one prepaid SIM card.”
Prior to the extension, less than half of all active SIMs in the country were registered. “It seems that more than half of SIM card holders are against registering them or the government effort in convincing them is extremely lacking,” Rep. France Castro (ACT Teachers party-list) said in a statement.
According to the NTC, there are now 87.4 million SIMs that have been registered, representing 52% of the total active SIMs. The government aims to register at least 70% of all existing SIMs.
While President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has approved the Department of Information and Communications Technology’s recommendation to extend the period for SIM registration for 90 days, the agency is mulling to restrict some services — including social media access — if users still fail to register within a certain time during the extension period.
Nothing in the law allows the government or telcos to limit access to unregistered users during the extension period. — Xave Gregorio with reports from Cristina Chi