The National Telecommunications Commission is pushing for the registration of subscriber identification module cards registration to resolve the rising complaints of text scams in the country.
NTC said it received 423 complaints on text scam in the first seven months of the year. There were 2,299 complaints on text scam filed last year before the agency.
“What will ultimately stop these scams would be SIM card registration. We are supporting the House bill on SIM card registration and the Senate bill on the same matter,” Edgardo Cabarios, director of NTC’s regulation division said.
The House committee on information and communications technology earlier approved House Bill 5231, also known as SIM Card Registration Act of 2015, a consolidation of nine bills.
Under the proposed bill, all direct sellers are required to register data in a registration-form device, including full name and address of the subscribers.
The bill also mandates every direct seller to require the end user of a SIM card to present valid identification with photo to ascertain the latter’s identity.