The number of registered Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards in the country has climbed to 28,371,192, said the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC).

Based on the latest tally provided by NTC, there are now 28,371,192 registered cards in the Philippines as of Feb. 2.

This is only equivalent to at least 16.79 percent of the 168,977,773 million SIMs nationwide, which means that there are still 140,606,581 unregistered cards in the country as of writing.

Out of the three leading public telecommunication entities (PTEs), Smart Communications Inc. still has the highest number of registrants at 14,569,983. Globe Telecom has reported 11,564,977, while Dito Telecommunity has registered 2,236,232 SIM cards so far.

The mandatory registration will still end on April 26, 2023 as the national government stressed that they are “not yet looking at a possible extension” of the said registration processes.

'1M registrations daily'

Earlier, Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Undersecretary Anna Mae Lamentillo said they are aiming to reach at least one million registrations daily.

At this rate, especially amid the anticipated “lull” in registrations, only about 111 million cards will be registered until April 26. To address this matter, Lamentillo made it clear that they are not expecting all 168 million subscribers to register their SIM.

“We expect that those SIMs which were used in scams, cybercrimes, and the like would not be registered and there are subscribers who would opt not to register their SIMs for personal reasons,” said Lamentillo.

All unregistered SIMs will permanently be deactivated when the registration period ends.