Consumer group, solons, telcos oppose SIM registration

By Erwin Lemuel Oliva INQ7.net

A CONSUMER group of local mobile phone subscribers, several congressmen, and a local telephone company are opposing a proposed measure that will require the registration of millions of prepaid subscriber identification module (SIM) cards in the country.

Insisting that the proposed law will turn into an administrative nightmare for government, the consumer group TXTPower said this pending law is also likely to violate the Filipino consumer’s right to privacy since it will require the creation of a database or electronic listing of all SIM cards sold in the country.

"This will lead to wholesale and widespread violations of the right to privacy of communications…because there is a huge potential for abuse of such [a] database, especially in the atmosphere of non-stop killing and harassment of government critics, activists, lawyers, and journalists," said Antony Ian Cruz, founder and convenor of TXT Power, in a congressional hearing on the proposed law.

SIM card registration is among several provisions for the protection of the rights of Filipino mobile phone subscribers in a consolidated bill filed in Congress, titled "Cellular Phone Subscribers Protection Act of 2005." It integrates various measures filed by lawmakers in the House of Representatives.

For his part, Rodolfo Salalima, Globe Telecom senior vice president for corporate and legal affairs, pointed out that the pending measure wrongly assumes that SIM registration would prevent the use pre-paid phone numbers as a means to perpetrate criminal activities like text-based scams and cell phone theft.

"If the reason for this [law] is to reduce criminality, then why punish the majority for a misdemeanor of a few," the Globe lawyer wanted to know.

Salalima also stressed that prepaid SIM registration would eventually translate to higher cost for consumers since this administrative procedure would eat into the resources of telephone companies and their suppliers.

Rep. Roilo Golez of the 2nd district of Parañaque added that government has been faced with registration problems historically.

"We're all politicians here and we know how difficult it is for government to impose a registration process. Just look at what had happened during the Philippine elections. We should realize that we have more mobile phone subscribers than voters. I don't think the National Telecommunications Commission (the body that will be put in charge of the registration process) can handle this administrative exercise," Golez said.

The congressman also noted that the proposed law indicates an intention to "protect consumers," not burden them with registration.

But Victorio Mario Dimagiba, director of the Bureau of Trade Regulation and Consumer Protection of the Department of Trade and Industry, supported the proposed measure, arguing that local law enforcement has often faced difficulties in solving criminal cases involving the use of pre-paid SIM cards due to lack of information.

"I think most of the provisions of this consolidated bill were based on the premise of a National Telecommunications Commission memo that was opposed by operators in the past," the DTI official added.

Officials of the NTC were not present during the Congressional hearing.

Meanwhile in Southeast Asia, Thailand is known to have imposed the registration of pre-paid SIM cards, according to a Thailand Expat Forum.

This forum indicates that with 30,000 SIM card outlets across the country with total sales of 50,000 cards a day, registration has not been as smooth sailing as the Thai government.

Government had intended to regulate the sale and purchase of millions of prepaid SIM cards to prevent terrorist activities. Charged with implementing the SIM card registration scheme, the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) signed a cooperation agreement with seven cell phone service providers to force subscribers to register their prepaid SIM cards.