Globe, the leader in mobile, has begun preparations to ensure a credible and customer-friendly rollout of the SIM Registration Act, a colossal undertaking that entails getting over 87.4 million customers to register their SIMs within six months.

As mandated by law, the National Telecommunications Commission last Friday started consultations with relevant government agencies and various stakeholders including telcos for purposes of crafting the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the law, which was signed on October 10.

Once the IRR is approved and published, Globe shall commence the registration of all existing users of SIMs, including physical SIM cards and e-SIMs on mobile devices.

“We intend for our SIM registration process to be as seamless and painless to our customers as possible. Our goal is to stay true to the spirit of the law in carrying out its provisions, while ensuring that the conduct of SIM registration will be secure, inclusive and convenient for our customers,” said Globe Group President and CEO Ernest Cu.

Globe is looking at international best practices in designing its SIM registration platform. It is also leveraging its suite of best-in-class digital solutions to deliver an easy but secure registration system.

“We’d like to assure our customers that their data will be protected even as we give them a hassle-free registration process. We wish to effectively roll out this landmark law,” said Cu.

The Philippines’ SIM Registration Act is envisioned to address escalating cybercrime in the country, including the proliferation of smishing and other forms of scam and spam messaging aided by the anonymity afforded by prepaid SIMs.

These scam and spam SMS have been affecting mobile phone users, and Globe has taken several steps to curb these disruptive messages through proactive blocking, threat intelligence partnerships with financial institutions, a customer reporting portal, and an awareness and education campaign to help customers protect themselves.

From January to September this year, Globe has deactivated 16,215 mobile numbers and blacklisted 19,343 more for involvement in scam and spam messaging. It also blocked a total 1.3 billion spam and scam messages within the same period.

In recent comments, Camarines Sur 2nd District Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte urged government agencies such as the NTC and the Department of Information and Communications Technology not to rush the crafting of the IRR for the SIM Registration Act, saying they should work closely with telcos to ensure a secure and future-proof registration system.