The subscriber identity module (SIM) card registration period, which will end on July 25, will no longer be extended, Department of Information and Communications Technology Secretary Ivan John Uy said on Friday.
During the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding for the establishment of a Connectivity Index Rating in the country, Uy announced that the majority of active SIM users have already registered.
According to DICT data, some 104 million SIMs for mobile phones and devices out of over 160 million in the country have been registered.
“July 25 is a hard deadline. The hardheaded ones should register now because, by 12:01 of July 26, they won’t have connectivity (with local mobile networks),” said Uy.
The DICT does not expect all SIMs to be registered since some of these are no longer in use.
Unregistered SIMs will automatically be deactivated after the deadline. Users of deactivated SIMs have a five-day grace period to register their mobile numbers, the DICT said.
Uy warned that text scams could continue to rise in the last 4 days leading to the deadline. Scammers are also shifting to other platforms, he said.
Out of the total 104,334,729 registered SIMs as of July 20, Globe registered 47,587,138, Smart with 49,324,526, and DITO with 7,423,065.