The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said they are pushing for the online SIM registration scheme.
Republic Act. No. 11934, also known as the SIM Registration Act, aims to make end users accountable for their usage of mobile communications by mandating SIM registration.
While the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the newly-signed law is still being crafted by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) together with its partner agencies, DICT said they are pushing for an online SIM registration scheme.
“ng ideal situation online lahat ng registration at submission ng verifiable documents. Mahirap ang onsite registration dahil madudumog po ng mga tao ang location nyan (The ideal situation is that the registration and submission of all verifiable documents will be online. Onsite registration will be difficult because the location will surely be crowded with people),” said DICT Secretary Ivan John Uy in a “Laging Handa” public briefing on Thursday, Oct. 13
Noting that there are around 144 to 150 million prepaid card users in the Philippines, Uy stressed that physical registrations will be inconvenient, adding that it may bring threat to Filipinos especially amid the ongoing Covid-19 health crisis.
He, however, explained that physical registrations may be also implemented by telecommunications companies but only for the purpose of verifying documents and confirming a user’s identity if it is impossible to do so online.
IRR, registration scheme
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. signed the SIM Registration Act into law on Monday, Oct. 10. NTC, on the other hand, disclosed that they were mandated to finish the measure’s IRR within 60 days after the law was made effective.
The IRR, according to Uy, will focus on "clarifying the details" of the law. These include the corresponding penalty for a certain violation of data privacy, registration scheme, as well as other key points on how the measure will be implemented.
In terms of registration, Uy said users will be able to register multiple SIMs.
“Walang limitasyon. Ang importante is properly-identified ang owner ng SIM card. Alam na po natin na hindi sa lahat ng lugar ay may signal po ang bawat telco so may area na malakas ang isa at mahina ang iba, so pwede pong multiple (There is no limit. The important thing is for us to properly identify the owner of the SIM card. We already know that not every place has a signal for every telco. There are areas where one is strong and others are weak, so we will be allowing multiple SIM registrations),” he added.
Users will be given 180 days or at least 6 months to register their own SIM cards. Meanwhile, applicants will be asked to present any of the following government identification cards: Driver’s License, Philippine National ID, SSS/GSIS card, UMID card, Philippine Passport, NBI Clearance, PhilHealth ID, Voter’s ID, TIN ID, and other government-issued IDs with photo.