The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) said Tuesday it is undertaking a comprehensive review of the SIM Registration Act or Republic Act No. 11934 to combat escalating text scams linked to SIM card fraud.
The agency said a key proposal under consideration is the introduction of mandatory personal appearance for SIM registration, mirroring the processes for driver’s licenses and NBI clearances.
It said the review is prompted by criticism that the current online registration system is vulnerable to abuse, allowing individuals to fraudulently sell their identities despite the existing penal provisions that carry imprisonment of up to two or six years and a fine of up to P300,000.
The NTC said in response to these concerns, it issued NTC Memorandum Order No. 010-09-2023, which contained the guidelines on the conduct of data/information submitted by end-users pursuant to the SRA, including directives for public telecommunications entities (PTEs) to enhance their systems for SIM registration and implement specific measures to validate SIMs already registered.
It also directed PTEs to deactivate clickable links in person-to-person text messages as an important public safety measure.
The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) submitted its proposed amendments to the SIM Registration Act to the House of Representatives and the Senate of the Philippines in 2024 to include provisions granting the agency the authority to periodically regulate the number of SIM ownership and possibly limit the acceptable number of valid government-issued identification (ID) cards.
It also recommended incorporating provisions in the law that would mandate agencies responsible for administering government-issued IDs to develop a validation platform accessible to PTEs to enhance the security of the SIM registration.
The NTC said the public telecommunications entities (PTEs) made significant strides in combating text scams and SIM fraud last year, successfully blocking 3,339,754,576 scam messages and deactivating 3,116,889 SIMs, which collectively contributed to the reduction of the proliferation of text scams and SIM fraud.
The NTC said it remains committed to effectively implementing the SIM Registration Act and achieving the declared objectives of the law.