The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) are set to roll out caravans for both the subscriber identity module (SIM) registration and the National ID program of the government.

During a Laging Handa briefing on Tuesday, Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Undersecretary Anna Mae Lamentillo said the partnership would target geographically-isolated and disadvantaged areas (GIDA).

“Tuloy tuloy po ang assisted registration sa iba’t ibang lugar sa bansa dahil ang hangarin natin ay maabot ang mga kababayan natin lalo na yung nasa GIDA sites (We are continuing assisted registrations in several parts of the country as we aim to reach even those in GIDAs),” Lamentillo said.

The DICT, she said, is also working with local government units (LGUs) and will continue grassroots information campaigns on the SIM registration.

In addition, she said telecommunications companies (telcos) have organized their own assisted registration activities.

On Monday, she took note of how Globe Telecom Inc. (Globe) held SIM registration and information drives during festivals such as the Dinagyang Festival in Iloilo City.

“We are glad that Globe and the other telcos have been using these events as platforms to promote public awareness. It is important that we continue these strategies, alongside other campaigns,”

To date, a total of 34,851,023 SIM cards have so far been registered nationwide, making up 20.62 percent of the country’s 168,977,773 total active SIMs as of September 2022. (PNA)