Yesterday, the House of Representative has approved 28 national bills, and one of which is the House Bill 5231, also known as the “Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Card Registration Act”, that seeks to require telcos to “establish a foolproof system of identifying users prepaid SIM cards.
Under the HB5231, consumers are required to present a valid ID with picture and personally fill out a registration form with control number provided by the telco before he/she can buy a prepaid SIM card. Once the sale has been made, the consumer will be issued with an official receipt from the servicing telco.
If the transaction is done through a telco representative or an agent, the person are obligated to forward all the necessary documents that the consumer has provided within fifteen (15) days from the date of sale.
Local telecommunications companies are required to submit an updated list of authorized dealers and agents to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) every quarter within thirty (30) days after the bill has been passed.
This will ensure that all consumers who will buy a prepaid SIM card from stores not owned by the servicing telco will still undergo the necessary process mentioned above.
If the telco failed to comply with any of the aforementioned provisions, the company will be penalized by NTC and will be forced to pay a fine.
The House Bill 5231 also encompasses existing prepaid SIM card users. Under the Section 3 of the SIM Card Registration Act, existing pre-paid users are required to register their SIM cards, as well as the serial number of their mobile phone, to the issuing telco within three (3) months from the date of effectivity of this act.
Failure to do so will not result to sanction or penalties on the user’s end. It may, however, result into an immediate account deactivation which will be carried out by the servicing telco.
The House Bill 5231 has passed the third and final reading in the House of Representative and will now be passed to the Senate to be approved. There’s a good chance that this House bill will be passed in to a law as President Aquino already expressed his support for the bill in the past.
[Source]
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denise says:
wow… magulo ito kung sakali. andaming sims na nagkalat na hindi registered.
ako ito says:
Sana…
Bogart says:
This is an utter bullshit!
stay positive says:
maraming magiging negative ang response dito gaya ng maraming abala at reklamo dahil kailangan pa ng mga papeles, kesyo dapat unahin ng telco ayusin ang serbisyo nila bago iimplement ito. Pero kailangan natin ito prosesong bilang unang hakbang para sa pagbabago at sa ikaaayos ng ating bansa.
Zander says:
this is kinda good, one hand is that the bill tries to stop scammers( in a way ) another is that its a hassle for existing “Prepaid” Subscribers to register
jmr_85 says:
Why not just have an activation process to register the SIM Cards? Why pass the burden to the resellers? How about those freelance sellers who do not own shops or stores?
booboo says:
Maganda ito pero sana isama sa Bill na ito yung pwede mo iretain yung old number mo kapag magpapareplace ng SIM card. Kasi tamad lang ang telcos sa pag-map ng mobile number and SIM cards kasi.
mintmocha says:
I remember having to register my prepaid number before. I don’t know why the telcos took it out. Kaya yan, walang katapusang mga spammers at scammers, lalo na yung Caritas na yan. BWISIT.
I hope the telcos will also consider providing SIM options for tourists and expats that may need local numbers.
jade13 says:
Ano’ng kabutihan ang maidudulot nito sa consumer?
archie says:
This is bad in a business point of view. Dagdag trabaho, dagdag gastos, dagdag overhead expense at dagdag raket lang to sa NTC. Ginagawang digital NSO ng gobyerno ang local telcos. Inutil kasi silang masugpo ang scammers kaya binibgay sa iba ang trabaho ng crime busting. Kailangang malaman ng mga tao ang author at mga nag-approve sa bill na ito para hindi na maiboto ng mga tao. Parang BBL lang ito na pampapogi sa administration pero naniniwala pa rin ako sa Supreme Court na idedeclare na unconstitutional ang mga ganitong stupid moves.
Wilson Cortes says:
3 months to register the potentially millions of prepaid simple cards, super haba pila nito kung sakali. Do the People who pass this bill think of that?
And are we just one step closer to an Orwellian society?
rape says:
Yung mga nagsasabing abala lang ang gagawin ng bill nato eh halatang sila yung gumagawa ng kalokohan. Tsk tsk.
kimmee says:
Well, its about time! Now fix the Internet service issue (one of the worst in the world!) after this law is enacted. We dont have another decade!
yas says:
Is the time frame even feasible? Do they expect to have 120 million (rough estimate) prepaid numbers to be registered within 3 months? That’s an average of about 1.3 million registrations everyday for 3 months straight.
Kalokohan ang time frame. This would have been a good idea.
wtf says:
parang mutant registration act….ang daming ginagawang batas, ang pangit naman ng internet access – ito muna ang auyusin…bakit hindi ibaba ang rate ng sms messages from PhP 1.00 to PhP 0.25, kesa mag-unli ka na same network lang….
Go Lang says:
good bye scammers,sana.. pero sabi nila may 3 months lang daw ang mga existing prepaid subscribers para mag register. sana naman gawin nilang 1 year hehe. baka mahaba pa sa pila ng last day ng voters registration ang pila kung 3 months lang. at ang serial ng phone/tab/pocketwifi mo dapat daw register? 3 ang sim cards ko at 4 ang mga sim enabled devices ko, kanino ko sila ireregister? haha.
Shiznu says:
This is actually functioning well in India for more than 2 years now. It helps promote more credibility for all in a lot of aspects.
woodzm says:
How do existing prepaid subscribers register their sim card? please reply :)
German BratWürst says:
This time Archie I agree with you and at your side to support your opinion and reasoning. Yup, I agree with this house bill and what is indicated therein. My prayer opinion about your Philippine Government always speaks up for fault. In your own language “ningas cogon”. I want to tell the government particularly those hundreds of legislators from baboon of Congress to give priority first to LTO problem which we are facing now. My wheels is almost a year now but still no PLATE NUMBER even stickers not available yet. They must solve this problem first before jumping to another problem. It is known that filipinos are “jack of all trade”.
You have the point Archie because, how can a third party SIM reseller force the Sim card buyer particularly those in the remote area, some didn’t know how to write his/her name but have 3 smartphones, and some others mostly kids even 5 years old already have their own mobile phones. Probably they fake their names and age when filing the form before buying the Sim or SIMs. Now, those guys who are hot with this issues how can they stop this or how can they justify this issue? I’m sure some of them have minor kids already using smartphone. Do they tolerate this buying prepaid SIM for their kids under his/her name? Then tell me they right telling you Archie Tanga and Bobo. To tell them I’m using premium postpaid from Globe and Infinity plan from Smart.
too_much_scum says:
Why is this being done? Get with the rest of the world you blood sucking leeches.. 3rd world is you.
xedman says:
nde problema ng user to… dapat ung mga service provided gumawa nito
Ted Reyes Olaya Bakla says:
Hmm..ok sana ito, kaso alam nyo nmn ang mga buwaya sa gobyerno, makakahanap ng paraan para abusuhin ito at pagkunan ng pera. Tignan nyo n lng ung LTO. ALAM NA! Taena ung mga corrupt n yan. Pero kapag wala mapala d nla papansinin, tulad ng bad internet service ng mga telcos.
zz says:
Um…it’s just the House of Representatives who passed the bill. Since the Senate has NOT yet approved the bill, it’s not yet considered an Act. A bill can only be an Act/a law if it passes in BOTH Senate and Congress, AND gets signed by the President.
nexusboy says:
Yugatech please also feature the pending Mobile Telephone Number Portability Act wherein mobile subscribers can RETAIN their number when transferring to a different network provider. The bill has been filed several times in the House of Representatives and in the Senate for several years, to no avail. Now that we are seeing SIM Registration finally to be enforced, the next reasonable step is to have MTN Portability Act signed into a law as well! I am hoping for your support Yugatech.
Thanks
denz says:
cge unahin nyo yang problema sa sim..kalimutan nyo ang marawi ..wag nyo nlng e big deal ang marawi yang sim card registration problem unahin nyo