Globe Telecom Inc. yesterday appealed to the government to extend the subscriber identity module (SIM) registration process as with just two weeks left before the April 26 deadline, its registration rate has yet to reach at least 50 percent.
In a statement, Globe said it has registered 27.85 million subscribers in its network as of April 11, representing about 32 percent of its total mobile customer base.
“With just two weeks to go before the April 26 deadline, we have yet to touch at least 50 percent of total registrations — other telcos similarly situated based on the latest available data,” Globe said.
The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), however, said “there is still no extension at this stage.
DICT data as of April 10 showed the total number of SIMs registered has reached 65.2 million or 38.8 percent of the nearly 170 million SIM users nationwide.
Of the total, Smart Communications Inc. accounted for 32.5 million and DITO Telecommunity Corp., 4.89 million SIM users.
Since the SIM Registration Act’s implementing rules and regulations were implemented, Globe said it continued its awareness and educational campaigns through sustained digital posts, in-app notifications, use of traditional media, face-to-face communications and instructional videos to drive urgency to register SIMs.
Despite these efforts, Globe noted a low registration count primarily due to the lack of valid government IDs and challenged digital literacy.
“We appeal to the government to extend the SIM registration process to give our customers more time to get their required government IDs and input the required information on our site,” Globe said.
Globe is also seeking the government’s support to allow alternative forms of identification, such as company and school IDs, and barangay certificates for those who do not have a valid government-issued ID. – Myla Iglesias
