Speaker asks telcos: Reveal total of postpaid subscribers, active but unlisted SIMs
A SIM card
House Speaker Martin Romualdez is asking the country's telecommunications companies (telcos) to reveal the total number of their postpaid mobile phone subscribers as well as the active but unlisted SIMs that they have sold. “Their combined data should give us, the public, an idea of how many SIMs, postpaid and prepaid, need to be registered,” Romualdez said in a statement Friday, April 28. He added that telcos should filter their data by discarding inactive SIMs. Romualdez asked for these figures just days after President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. extended the SIM registration window for another 90 days. Republic Act (RA) No.11934 or the SIM registration law set the registration period between Dec. 27, 2022 and April 26, 2023. SIM cards are used to avail of network services on electronic devices such as mobile phones. Reports said that as of April 23 or three days before the original April 26 registration deadline, only 82.8 million SIM owners have registered. Of the 82.8 million registrants, 39.9 million signed up with Smart Communications, 37.09 million with Globe Telecom, and 5.79 million with DITO Telecommunity Corp. There have been reports that the three telcos have sold a total of 165 million to 170 million SIM cards.