“Birthing Pains” Expected With Initial Rollout of Sim Registration

Beginning December 27, mobile users in the country can start registering their sim cards. With the initial rollout of registration mechanisms, the government as well as telecommunication companies mention that there will be “birthing pains” and scammer attempts using fake registration links to hack gadgets.

Recently, Undersecretary Anna Mae Y. Lamentillo of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) formally announced the beginning of the sim registration, with the implementing rules and regulations of the SIM Registration Law.

“The first two weeks will be a test registration, which means that registrations are valid but there could be some difficulties and minor errors as the PTEs [public telecommunications entities] fine-tune the implementation process. We advise those who experience difficulties, glitches, or technical issues to immediately report to the telcos or relevant government agencies to be addressed accordingly,” mentioned Undersecretary Lamentillo.

With the new law, phone users are required to register their mobile numbers and their identities with operators. This law is targeted at lessening phishing and scamming incidents which have exponentially grown during the pandemic. Aside from this, the new law is aimed at reducing spam messages, and misinformation, as well as crimes such as terrorism, exploitation of children, online sexual abuse, and human trafficking, to name a few.

Last October 10, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed the SIM Registration Act into law. This law necessitates telcos to establish platforms for subscribers to register their SIMs faster. All three major telco companies have stated that their websites will go live on December 27.

“We are prepared but we might encounter challenges in the registration process,” mentioned Smart Communications Inc. Spokesman Cathy Y. Yang.

Source: Business Mirror