Customers of Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) and value brand TNT may go to SM Supermalls across the country to register their SIMs and comply with the SIM Card Registration Act.
As of January 30, Smart booths and touch points offering assisted SIM Registration services for prepaid and postpaid subscribers have been deployed in 36 SM establishments from Cauayan, Isabela in North Luzon, all the way to General Santos, South Cotabato in Mindanao. Eight more SM establishments will host Smart and TNT assisted SIM Registration booths in the next few days, bringing to 44 the total count of covered SM Supermalls.
“With the reopening of the local economy, we have seen the surge of mall visitors especially in SM Supermalls. Given the importance and urgency of complying with the law, we partnered with The SM Store and SM Supermalls because of their foot traffic and presence across the country. Starting January 23 we began to deploy our assisted SIM registration booths at SM Supermalls,” according to Alex O Caeg, SVP and head of the Consumer Sales Group at PLDT and Smart.
According to Republic Act (RA) 11934 or the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Registration Act, all SIM users have until April 26, 2023 to register their SIMs under their name. The SIM Registration Act regulates the use of SIM cards to help curb the proliferation of text scams and other mobile phone-aided criminal activities.
“Promoting the welfare of our customers is one of the pillars of SM Supermalls’ mission and purpose. By providing a venue where mall-goers can conveniently get assistance and register their Smart and TNT SIMs, we hope to contribute to the protection of all mobile users through SIM Registration,” according to Mr. Dhinno Francis S. Tiu, EVP and SM Store’s Operations and Sales Support Head.
Smart and TNT were the first to set up assisted SIM Registration booths across the country, on the same day as the SIM Registration portal http://www.smart.com.ph/simreg was launched on December 27, 2022. Through the online platform and the assisted SIM Registration touchpoints at the PLDT Smart retail stores and distributor shops, about 14 million Smart and TNT customers have been able to conveniently register their SIMs to date.
Smart and its value brand TNT have also deployed assisted SIM Registration booths in 15 far-flung municipalities in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao since last week. The deployments which have been done in close collaboration with the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT), the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the LGUs, the inter-agency committee on remote areas registration, and other public telecommunications entities, have enabled thousands of mobile users to easily and conveniently complete their registrations.
“Through our partnership with SM and the other sites across the country, our assisted SIM registration booths offer information and guidance as to how to register their Smart or TNT SIMs using acceptable ID cards, as well as provide physical assistance to senior citizens, persons with disabilities as well as those using non-data phones. This is part of our commitment that our SIM Registration will be inclusive and that no one will be left behind,” added Caeg.
PLDT and Smart’s support for SIM Registration underscores the PLDT group’s longstanding consumer protection initiatives, which includes blocking SIMs that send ‘smishing’ messages and Uniform Resource Locators (URL) or links that lead to illegal activities, to help safeguard the public against emerging cyberthreats, vulnerabilities, and other online criminal activities.
