MALITA, Davao Occidental (PIA) – The National Telecommunications Commission in Davao Region (NTC-XI) has reached out early this week to three towns of Davao Occidental for the remote SIM card registration.
The NTC-XI brought on Tuesday (April 4) the telecommunication companies such as Globe and Smart in a simultaneous onsite registration at the gymnasiums of Malita and Sta. Maria, to assist their respective subscribers from nearby barangays.
The other telecommunication subscribers were assisted by the personnel of the NTC-XI during the online registration.
On Monday (April 3), the onsite registration has also served more than 700 subscribers in the municipality of Don Marcelino, also in Davao Occidental province, bared NTC-XI Regional Director Nelson Canete.
Canete said that they need to bring the onsite registration to an area with complete signal to serve residents who do not know how to register online and those residing in remote barangays with no signal.
“Naa daghang tao sa munisipyo nga dili kabalo mag register online… kami mag assist sa telcos para maka assist sa ilang mga subscribers (A lot of people in the municipality don’t know how to register online… we’re here to help the telcos assist their subscribers),” he stated.
He said though that the remote SIM registration usually would not gather many subscribers as desired because some challenges like distance, weather condition and livelihood hinder the residents to go to the registration area.
However, Canete said that some local government units have also initiated to assist their constituents in the online registration.
The NTC-XI official has called on the Sangguniang Kabataan councils to also make initiatives and make the online registration a project to help reach out to more subscribers especially in far-flung barangays.
He reminded the public that if the SIM card is not registered after the deadline on April 26, 2023, it will be deactivated which will also cause loss of phonebook contacts, forfeiture of loads and inaccessibility of apps which are dependent to the cellphone number like Gcash.
Canete bared that as to date, 55 million out of the 170 million SIM cards nationwide are already registered. (PIA-XI/Carina L. Cayon / photos by Loel C. Balangauan)
