Telcos ready for SIM card registration, birthing pains expected

Major telecommunications firms on Monday said they are fully prepared for the implementation of the SIM Card Registration Act, but expect birthing pains in the initial stages.

According to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), firms have already committed their readiness for the full implementation of the SIM registration as its implementing rules and regulations (IRR) take effect on Tuesday, December 27.

“As relayed to us by the different telcos, they are already ready with their systems come tomorrow and then are ready to accept the registration nationwide starting December 27,” NTC Deputy Commissioner Jon Paulo Salvahan said in a press conference.

For registration concerns, users of DITO Telecommunity Corp. can visit https://dito.ph/registerDITO, Globe Telecom Inc. at https://new.globe.com.ph/simreg, and Smart at https://smart.com.ph/simreg.

Globe Telecom Inc. corporate and legal services group head Ariel Tubayan said simulations of the company found that all its subscribers can be onboarded even before the 180-day registration deadline.

“Based on our estimate, it is actually technically possible to finish registration of all 87 million Globe subscribers in less than 15 days, provided that all these subscribers really register on time and very early, and not wait for the last day of registration,” he said in a press conference.

Users will be able to complete the process in a little less than 5 minutes, according to Tubayan.

?This comes as President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. in October signed the SIM Card Registration Act into law, which mandates all public telecommunications entities (PTEs) to establish their own registration platform where they will onboard their users who present valid identification cards.

Tubayan noted, however, that among the possible challenges were those seen in the implementation of the mobile number portability (MNP) which allowed users to keep their mobile numbers despite switching networks.

“I think just like any implementation where an online platform is involved, there will be some birthing pains just like our experience in the mobile number portability,” he said.

This was mirrored by DITO Telecommunity Corp. chief administrative officer Adel Tamano, who said that among the challenges expected are encouraging users to register themselves.

“On the side of DITO, really the big challenge is paano maengganyo ‘yung publiko to register kasi bago 'to eh, and parang by nature, may kaunting hesitancy ‘yung tao mag-register,” he said.

(On the side of DITO, really, the big challenge is how to encourage the public to register because this is something new and it seems that by nature, there is a bit of hesitancy to register.)

In response, Tamano said DITO users who register their SIM cards will be given a reward of 2 gigabytes of mobile data upon completion of the forms.

“We are ready for registration, but we need the help of the public to make it successful,” he said in the same press conference.

For her part, PLDT Inc. and Smart Communications Inc. head of group corporate communications Cathy Yang said the group is already prepared, with its channels open to address concerns.

“We tested the platform and it is working,” she said.

Moving forward, the telecommunications companies are set to roll out information campaigns on how their users can register to their respective online platforms.—AOL, GMA Integrated News