Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Ivan Uy said at least 105 million subscriber identity module (SIM) cards were registered before the July 25 deadline.

In an ambush interview at an economic forum, Uy said they were "on target" with the number of registered SIM cards despite their original target being 160 million, considering that only 70 percent were being legitimately used while others were used for telemarketing or scamming.

“So, at that, we’re expecting between 100 to 110 million revenue-generating SIM cards. So at 105 million, we are right on the dot in terms of our target,” he said.

Of this number 48,378, 674 are from Globe, 49,990,446 are from Smart, and 7,5548, 724

Uy advised SIM card subscribers to register before midnight.

“Reminder, last chance for you to register your SIM cards after midnight tonight. After that, you will no longer be able to use your SIM cards and it's going to be a tedious process to reactivate those SIM cards,” Uy said.

He said they are expecting a surge of last-minute registrations.

“We’ve actually been experiencing a surge for the past two days. Just like the previous deadline where we had a huge surge of SIM card registrations. So last minute again, right? It’s a bad habit of ours. It’s the last chance today and I think we hit our target very well.”

DICT previously set the deadline on April 26 but extended it by 90 days as the number of registered SIM cards did not reach their target.

Uy also warned the public not to sell their SIM card registration credentials.

“Do not sell your credentials. We’ve received reports and we’ve actually arrested some groups in possession of SIM cards that have been registered by people and they sell those SIM cards that are being used for scamming. Not just SIM cards, even e-wallet accounts, and even online bank accounts,” he said.

“These are being used by criminal organizations and your name as well as credentials are being used for scamming. And if law enforcement agencies catch them using this for criminal activity and your name is the one registered for the SIM card or e-wallet, then you will also be involved in the case and warrant of arrest because you will become an accessory,” he added. Jaspearl Tan/DMS