TACLOBAN CITY—The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) here in the region has advised the public to register their sim cards as soon as possible as the April 26 deadline is fast approaching.
As of March 17, there are 45.82 million registrants.
Of this number, 18.94 million are Globe subscribers; 3.44 million from DITO; and 24.43 million from Smart, according to the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) spokesperson undersecretary (USEC) Anna Mae Lamentillo.
Engineer Wilfredo Zabala, NTC regional director, said that the public must not wait for the deadline before registering their sim cards as there is still no assurance from the DICT on the extension of the deadline for the sim card registrations.
“Most of the subscribers are just waiting for the April 26 deadline before they register their sim cards,” he said.
Zabala then highlighted the importance of registering the sim card.
“Number one is para hindi ma-deactivate ang inyong simcard (kasi) hindi niyo na magagamit once na maabutan na po natin ang deadline and number two,mabawasbawasan na ang mga scammers, yung mga sim text scam,” the NTC official said.
In aid for the low turnout on sim registration in our country, the DICT in partnership with NTC holds the ‘Facilitated Sim Registration caravan’ which aims to help people who are facing issues in registering their sim cards by visiting municipalities in the region.
The DICT and NTC Region 8 started their caravan on March 22 assisting municipalities namely Taft, Dolores, San Julian, Sulat, and Borongan City, and the following week, in Guiuan, all in Eastern Samar.
On the first week of April, there will be no Sim Registration Caravan in deference to the observance of the Holy Week.
And on the second week of April, they will stop by in Basey, for the Samar area, ending their caravan on the last three days they will head to Catarman, Northern Samar.
(JAIRON RIC BALAIS, LNU Student Intern)
