MANILA, Philippines — The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) announced on Wednesday that there will be no further extension for the mandatory registration of subscriber identity modules (SIM) cards as prescribed by Republic Act 11934.
As per RA 11934, the government had previously extended the original deadline of April 26, 2023, by an additional 90 days to allow millions of users with unregistered SIMs ample time to complete the registration process.
However, the NTC clarified that the registration period will now end on July 25, 11:59 p.m. (Philippine Standard Time). After this deadline, telecommunication and mobile data services, including social media access, will be deactivated for unregistered SIMs, except for a brief window until July 30 for reactivation.
Furthermore, access to online banking and other online financial transactions will also be deactivated.
After July 31, all unregistered SIMs will be permanently deactivated and can no longer be registered or reactivated.
As of July 24, 2023, the NTC reported a total of 105.9 million successful SIM registrations, accounting for 63% of the total number of reported active SIM subscribers as of December 2022.
The NTC expressed satisfaction with this number, stating that it falls within the target range of 100 million to 110 million registered SIMs by the deadline. Public telecommunication entities reported that almost all of their SIMs with active users have already completed the registration process.
Specifically, out of the 105.9 million successful SIM registrations, Smart had 50.0 million, Globe had 48.4 million, and Dito had 7.5 million registered SIMs. (ai/mnm)
