TWO public telecommunication entities (PTEs) reiterated their call for the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to extend the deadline for subscriber identity module (SIM) registration.
“Globe reiterated its call for the DICT to extend the deadline so customers can obtain valid IDs — a key requirement for SIM registration that many SIM users lack, preventing them from completing registration,” Globe Telecom, Inc. said in a press release on Thursday.
“Pending response to our appeal for the government to extend the deadline, we call on all Globe SIM users to comply with the law,” Globe President and Chief Executive Officer Ernest L. Cu said.
“Extending the deadline will give our remaining 45% subscriber base ample time to register. At present, all 160-million subscribers in the country are given only 121 days to register,” Smart Communications, Inc. First Vice-President and Group Head for Corporate Communications Catherine Y. Yang said in a separate press release.
“Comparatively, in other countries like Indonesia and India, PTEs were given 1 to 2 years of a registration window to better prepare for and promote SIM registration,” she added.
On Wednesday, the DICT posted a statement that rejected the appeal of the three PTEs for the extension of SIM registration.
As of April 18, the DICT recorded a total of 74.18 million registered SIMs which is 44.15% of the 168.98-million subscribers nationwide have registered.
Of the total SIMs registered, 36.56 million are Smart subscribers, 32.22 million are from Globe, while DITO Telecommunity Corp. recorded 5.4 million.
Meanwhile, Albay Representative Jose Ma. Clemente S. Salceda said that the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and the National Privacy Commission (NPC) should ensure that all data collected under the SIM Registration Law should be well-guarded and secure.
“SIM Card registries will be the largest source of personal data in the country. So, they will be targets. I call on the NTC and the NPC to make the necessary reviews and proactive measures to ensure that a similar data breach will not take place in SIM registries,” Mr. Salceda said.
“That probably means a periodic audit of privacy protocols of telecommunications companies by the NPC. And that has to be sooner rather than later,” he added.
The statement came after a report posted on vpnMentor on Tuesday by cybersecurity researcher Jeremiah Fowler said more than 1.2-million police records and 800 gigabytes of information on people who work or applied for employment in law enforcement in the Philippines were publicly available on a database. — Justine Irish D. Tabile
