Society

GLOBE WELCOMES BICAMERAL RATIFICATION OF SIM REGISTRATION BILL

29 September 2022

Globe welcomes the passage of the SIM Registration Bill in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. This is a crucial step in addressing the escalating problem of spam and scam messages, which fraudsters use to dupe mobile phone users.

“We are pleased to see swift progress on the SIM Registration bill as it takes a step closer to being signed into law. We also acknowledge the opportunity for collaboration that both houses of Congress afforded industry players, which allowed us to provide our recommendations on the bill grounded on our experience as telco frontliners,” said Froilan Castelo, Globe Group General Counsel.

“We shall await then for the implementing rules of the law,” Castelo said.

As the leader in mobile, Globe has been keenly following developments on the bill, working closely with Congress to ensure the crafting of a comprehensive and future-proof measure.

Globe also stands ready to work with the government in drafting rational implementing rules and regulations that will take into account the immense task of getting tens of millions of prepaid SIM users registered retroactively.

SIM Registration will serve as a major deterrent against spam and scam SMS, as it will finally lift the veil of anonymity that comes with using prepaid SIM cards. The status quo had allowed the prevalence of SMS-aided fraud, with perpetrators largely untraceable.

“We believe that once signed into law, SIM Registration will take us a step ahead of fraudsters and help achieve our shared goal of eradicating scam and spam messaging,” said Castelo.