On the second day of its implementation, Republic Act 11934, or the “Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Registration Act” has now tallied nearlyl 4 million successful SIM registrations. This is still a long way to go with the overall total of 170 million SIMs circulating in the country. Despite this, it still shows how the public is cooperating to have their SIM cards registered as well.
The latest tally as of Wednesday night, Dec. 28, Globe Telecom Inc. registered 1,769,374 SIMs out of its 88 million users; Smart Communications Inc. registered 1,019,207 out of 68 million; and DITO Telecommunity Corp. registered 625,535 out of 15 million.
There is still some time for existing SIM users to register with more than five months on the clock before deactivation. However, new SIM users do need to register their SIMs to activate call, text and data services.
SIM Registration birthpains
The overwhelmingly positive response of SIM card registrants created some challenges. Glitches prevented more than expected entries into the system. The first day saw Globe and Smart’s portals go offline due to the volume along with looming security issues.
The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) ordered the three telcos to provide a daily written report on deviations or issues regarding the SIM card registration processes for seven days starting yesterday, the 28th of December.
Admittedly, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) did provide wiggle room and expected glitches to happen in the first two weeks of SIM registration — allowing this as a “test period”.
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Globe feedback
Globe did report that its portal logged a total of 1,528,735 Globe and TM SIM users who were able to complete their registration as of 4 p.m., 28th of December but has since been back up and running smoothly by early Wednesday morning.
Globe has its SIM registration portal https://new.globe.com.ph/simreg and has addressed potential minor vulnerabilities.
By January 2023, SIM registration will be available via the Globe One. On-site assisted registration will start in February 2023 for Globe customers who are having difficulties with the digital or online platforms, might have challenges with the feature or limitations of their mobile, or have no internet access on hand.
You might want to read: How to register your SIM: A Complete Guide
Yoly Crisanto, Globe Group Chief Sustainability, and Corporate Communications Officer revealed, “Our SIM registration platform is back up and running, and we’re happy to report that our customers are logging in to register. We shall continue to closely monitor the site’s performance using the 72-hour window from December 27 to check the stability and full optimization of the system. We would like to thank our customers for their understanding as we address issues on our platform. We also would like to reassure them that there is enough time to register.”
Smart updates
As of 4 p.m. of Dec. 28, some 799,510 Smart Prepaid, Smart Bro, and TNT customers; and 219,697 Smart Postpaid customers, or a total of 1.01 million subscribers had registered their SIMs on the Smart network, the telco said.
Atty. Kenneth Regañon, Smart regulatory affairs senior manager, in a report to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) digressed, “Our postpaid subscribers were able to receive their registration confirmation within 2 minutes. Some of our prepaid subscribers, meanwhile, may have experienced initial difficulties in accessing our portal and in completing the registration process due to the heavy volume of registration traffic throughout the day. As early as 3 a.m., subscribers were already trying to register and access our portal. To address this surge, we immediately increased the capacity of our portal, without going offline, enabling the registration of more subscribers.” he added.
Cathy Yang, PLDT and Smart group corporate communications head, added,“Glitches and birth pains are common during the initial stages of implementing new systems. We continue to optimize our SIM registration platform to mitigate future incidents. We are likewise confident that we will be able to accommodate the registration of all existing subscribers within the deadline set by the law and the implementing rules and regulations.”
New and existing Smart and TNT prepaid subscribers can access Smart’s SIM registration portal through https://smart.com.ph/simreg.
Postpaid subscribers, simply text YES to 5858 to confirm their registration.
DITO news
DITO folks disclosed that nearly 500,000 or a total of 497,783 subscribers have successfully registered their SIM cards. Their team was also able to fend off external malware and hacking attacks based on their NTC reports.
Their approach differs from Globe and Smart wherein the SIM registration can be done directly within the DITO app. DITO officials announced, “No need to go to an outside site, so it’s more secure. We didn’t have as many problems.”
Users of DITO Telecommunity Corp. can visit https://dito.ph/registerDITO
The overwhelming response of users to register their SIM cards on the very first week of implementation is indeed a showcase of success in the government’s campaign to have the Republic Act 11934 or the “Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Registration Act” on the right track. Kudos to the telcos as well for being in line to have processes in place and the continuous effort to keep things working smoothly. Have you registered your SIM already, guys? Just comment down below on how you find this piece of news. We hope to hear from you soon, thanks!
