President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has approved a 90-day extension of the SIM card registration deadline in the Philippines. The Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) expects the move to increase the number of registrants by up to 20 million, with low turnout not being the main reason for the extension. The DICT plans to concentrate resources on island provinces and remote areas, where there has been a low registration turnout. Failure to register active SIM cards within the extended period may result in deactivation of services, the loss of the user’s number and access to e-wallets and financial services linked to their SIM card. Globe and Smart Communications welcome the extension and urge subscribers to comply with the law. Dito Telecommunity has 5,929,567 registered SIMs out of 14,964,967 active users. Several government agencies and private telecommunications companies have been ordered to answer the petition claiming that the Republic Act (RA) 11934 or the “SIM Card Registration Act” is unconstitutional.
