Solon wants telcos to cancel customer service workers' vacations as SIM registration deadline nears
House Deputy Minority Leader and Bagong Henerasyon (BH) Party-list Rep. Bernadette Herrera ( Rep. Herrera's office)
A high-ranking congresswoman is asking telecommunications companies (telcos) to cancel all holidays and leaves of their customer service personnel for the next few days. According to House Deputy Minority Leader and Bagong Henerasyon (BH) Party-list Rep. Bernadette Herrera, this would be of great help to late SIM card registrants who want to comply with the SIM Registration Act. Herrera made this call to telcos after the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) announced that jt would not extend the April 26 deadline for registration as provided for by the law. "I advise the telcos to cancel all the holidays and leaves of their customer service personnel. They should be all hands on deck and make extra effort to serve the registrants at their branches, service outlets, and service kiosks in the coming days," the lady solon said. "The telcos should not be surprised by the surge in registrants, but they should also make sure the scammers and spammers are not among those who will register in the last few days to take advantage of the rush so their illegal operations could slip through the cracks or go will the flow of the registration surge," she said. SIM stands for subscriber identity module. SIM cards are used to avail of network services on electronic devices such as mobile phones. "There is a long weekend coming up—from April 21 to 23 because of the Eidl Fitr holiday marking the end of Ramadan. Unregistered SIM subscribers should make time during the Ramadan holiday weekend to register their SIMs," Herrera said. "Given the DICT decision, which is entirely within their discretion to exercise, the unregistered SIM subscribers should accept the reality of the April 26 deadline," she said. As per the DICT, the SIM registration turnout based on all active SIM cards in the country has been less than 40 percent. One of main purposes of the law, which provided for a 120-day sign-up window, was to put a stop to mobile phone-based scams.