THE Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said it considers the registration exercise for mobile subscriber identity module (SIM) cards a “success” after registrations exceeded 100 million.
The tally of registered user accounts was 100.26 million as of Thursday, Information and Communications Technology Secretary Ivan John E. Uy told reporters on Friday.
“We have registered 100 million SIM cards, and our population is more or less 110 million. So, I think we have a very good number and very successful SIM card registration,” he said.
He called the time remaining to register — about one month — “a last chance… (If they fail to register and) their service gets cut, I hope they do not get mad. We gave them all the opportunities to register and we even extended it to give them more time,” he added when asked about any possible deadline extensions.
The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) estimates that the registered SIM cards are equivalent to 59.67% of the 168.02 million SIMs in circulation as of the end of 2022.
Around 47.37 million subscribers use Smart Communications, Inc., while 45.96 million use the services of Globe Telecom, Inc., and 6.94 million are with DITO Telecommunity Corp.
On April 25, the DICT announced the 90-day extension of the SIM registration period giving the public until July 25 to register.
COMBATING CYBERCRIME
Mr. Uy said his department will be creating a special task force to respond rapidly to phishing and other forms of cybercrime.
Last week, the DICT met with the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center, the three major telecommunication firms, online banks, e-wallet companies, the NTC, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and the National Privacy Commission to discuss the coordinated response to cyber threats and scams.
“It is important that we get ahead of them and that we not wait for a scandal or a big (attack) in which there will be a lot of people victimized before we act,” Mr. Uy said.
“Scammers and criminals are taking advantage of the lack of organization between concerned agencies,” he added.
The special task group is expected to meet this week to discuss where incidents are to be reported and how to validate such complaints.
“They have to get to work together. Given those instructions, they agreed that they will be meeting early next week to discuss how the process will go,” Mr. Uy said. — Justine Irish D. Tabile