As SIM card registration kicked off yesterday, the government-mandated move aimed at protecting users from fraudulent messages experienced birth pains.

In the early morning of Tuesday, SIM card users flood social media to report issues accessing the telecommunication service providers.

Jay Esguerra, a 25-year-old prepaid user, said it took him about 15 minutes to access the link provided by his telco. Overall, the registration process took him close to an hour to accomplish.

"Since this is required by the government, I made sure to register on the first day and to also see if the link works.

Fortunately, it worked. But unfortunately, it took me quite a long time to finish the process. I wonder if my telco provider anticipated the influx, I hope they did," he said.

For post-paid users, the situation was somehow different. Shyla Manalo, 29, a post-paid user for over five years, said her telco provider sent her a text message asking her not to worry about her registration.

"I just received a text this morning that as a post-paid user, I just have to reply YES to their advisory to allow them to register my number to their system since, during my post-paid application, I already provided them my details. I enjoyed this perk," she said.

Globe site needs optimization

In separate advisories on Tuesday, telco providers reported that they all experienced an influx of registrants.

Ayala-backed Globe Telecom Inc. said its portal, launched in the early morning of 27 December, was accessible to some users between 4 a.m. to 7 a.m. but it temporarily went offline as the site is being optimized.

Globe said it hopes to have the online platform back up within the day but as of 4:28 p.m., the website was still inaccessible.

As of the end of the third quarter, Globe reported 87.9 million mobile subscribers, including fully mobile broadband, 2.7 million Home Broadband customers, and 1.1 million landline subscribers.

All Globe Prepaid, TM, Globe At Home Prepaid WiFi, Globe Mobile WiFi, and Globe Business prepaid customers have until 26 April 2023 to register.

SMART vows secure portal

SMART Communications Inc., the wireless arm of PLDT Inc., said its portal is also safe with additional features blocking SIMs that send 'smishing' messages and Uniform Resource Locators or links that lead to illegal activities.

In 2021, PLDT and Smart invested nearly P3 billion in cybersecurity infrastructure to help safeguard the public against emerging cyber threats, vulnerabilities, and other online criminal activities.

On Tuesday afternoon, SMART's registration portal temporarily became accessible but it went online after a few minutes of downtime.

Smart serves approximately 96 percent of the country's cities and municipalities and provides over 71.8 million Filipinos access to digital services.

Smooth Day 1 for DITO

Meanwhile, duopoly challenger and new player DITO Telecommunity Corp. chief administrative officer Adel Tamano said he was pleased with the smooth first day of SIM registration activities.

"As promised, DITO has made the exercise simple and rewarding with 208,039 successful registrants as of 3 p.m., 27 December. Based on our internal tests, it takes an average of four minutes to complete the process," Tamano said.

"Our DITOzens can rest assured that we will continue to improve the registration process based on the feedback we receive from our Telecommunity."

Patience for two-week trial

According to the Department of Information and Communications Technology, the first two weeks of the SIM Registration is considered a test period where "some glitches or technical issues are expected as the public telecommunications entities or PTES fine-tune their respective processes."

The department said the 15-day test period will help determine the areas that the providers need to improve to make the process more efficient for all users.

"We request the public their patience as this process is new to both the subscribers and the PTEs. We also ask for the public's cooperation in reporting to the telcos or to the complaint center the difficulties, glitches, or technical issues they experience," the DICT said.

Following the release of the implementing rules and regulations for the SIM Card Registration Act earlier this month, telecommunications subscribers are now required to register their SIMs, or else their cards will be immediately deactivated.

The DICT aims to accomplish SIM registration nationwide within six months or until June 2023.

DITC opens complaint center

The Department of Information and Communications Technology on Tuesday opened a 24/7 complaint center tasked with receiving reports and resolving problems related to the SIM Card Registration Act's implementation.

The 24/7 complaint center, Lamentillo said, will act as a support system for the implementation of SIM registration because it will give SIM customers a place to voice their complaints and offer suggestions for improving the procedure.

The DICT said the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center, a department-affiliated organization, will house the SIM Registration complaint center.

Complaints regarding SIM registration can be sent through the hotline 1326.

WITH TIZIANA CELINE PIATOS