With solely 4 days left earlier than the SIM registration interval ends, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) voiced openness to extending the deadline, admitting that gaps exist within the registration course of.
Interviewed on Dobol B TV on Saturday, DICT Secretary Ivan John Uy stated the company can have a gathering on Monday, April 24, with public telecommunications entities (PTEs) and different stakeholders to search out out why greater than half of the variety of subscribers nonetheless have not registered their SIMs.
Last week, the DICT stated it is not going to lengthen the April 26 SIM registration deadline “at this point” regardless of calls from telcos for an extension, to present extra time for his or her subscriber to safe legitimate IDs required to have a profitable registration.
“Sa Lunes, magkakaroon kami ng pagpupulong upang makuha ang mga statistics kung ilan na ang nakapagparehistro… Matignan kung ano ang talaga ‘yung mga problema bakit may ilan na hindi pa rin nakakapagparehistro,” Uy stated.
“Kahit mag-extend tayo, kung hindi natin ma-identify ‘yung gap… Hindi magiging effective ‘yung extension… Dapat pagaralang mabuti tignan ang problema,” he stated.
The DICT chief stated “if ever we do make an extension,” the company will already embrace changes in its guidelines to accommodate extra demographics who haven’t but registered their SIMs.
As of April 20, 2023, a complete of 76,927,923 subscribers have registered their SIMs, equal to round 45% of the 168 million subscriber base nationwide.
The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has stated it isn’t aiming for 100% SIM registration.
Uy, likewise, stated telcos stated that an enormous portion of the 168 million subscriber base are “disposable” SIMs that are used quickly.
“Ang actual estimate nila ay close to 100 million ‘yung active SIMs… Kung ‘yan ang pagbabasehan, we have about 78 million to 79 million registered SIMS. We are hitting almost 80% registered,” he stated.
He reiterated that the company and the telcos will establish the “bigger concern” akin to the shortage of IDs and lack of connectivity in some areas.
“Even if we have an extension, kung hindi natin ma-address ‘yung rason kung bakit hindi sila makapagparehistro… ganun pa rin ang problema” [If the gaps in the registration process remained unaddressed, the problem will persist, and deadline extension won’t be of any help], Uy stated.
“Posibleng humanap tayo ng paraan na payagan silang makapag parehistro kung talagang hindi sila makakuha ng valid ID… perhaps any substitute document or something. We will be meeting on Monday to discuss that,” he added.
Under the SIM Card Registration Act, signed into legislation in October 2022, those that have SIMs have 180 days from the effectivity of the legislation to register their numbers, or till April 26, 2023.
The legislation additionally supplies that the DICT can lengthen the deadline for an additional 120 days because it deems obligatory. —LBG, GMA Integrated News
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
