By Gabriela Baron
The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said Monday, Jan. 16, that over 20 million SIM cards have been registered with the major telecommunication entities as mandated by the SIM Card Registration Act.
The DICT said a total of 20,551,294 SIMs have been registered or a total of 12.16% of the 168 million subscribers nationwide.
Smart Communications Inc. logged the highest number with 10,041,791 SIMS registered, which is 14.77% of Smart’s subscribers.
Globe Telecom Inc. recorded 8,764,568 SIMs registered or 9.97% of its over 87 million subscribers and DITO Telecommunity Corp. with a total of 1,744,935 SIMs registered which is 13.31% of its 13,108,103 subscribers.
DICT Spokesperson and Undersecretary Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo urged the public to register now and not wait for the deadline which is April 26.
Lamentillo also assured that the law ensures the protection of data that subscribers will provide during registration.
“SIM Registration is being implemented in conjunction with the Data Privacy Act. Encryption of data is mandatory. Under the law, PTEs must ensure that data of end-users are secured, encrypted, and protected at all times,” she added.
