A popular multinational fast food chain is offering assistance to mobile subscribers of Smart and TNT as the government extends the mandatory SIM card registration deadline to July.
Filipinos can visit 35 selected stores of McDonald’s Philippines until July 24, 2023 to register their SIM cards in light of the SIM Registration Act that took effect in December 2022.
The law mandates mobile subscribers to register their personal information such as name, date of birth, gender, and address. They also need to provide a valid government-issued ID for identity verification.
The legislative measure supposedly makes it easier for authorities to prevent and investigate cybercriminal activities involving SIM cards. This includes phishing, smashing, and other mobile scams.
The registration for SIM cars — both prepaid and postpaid — has been extended until July 25, 2023 by the Department of Information and Communications Technology to ensure that Filipinos will have more chances to prevent SIM card deactivation.
Those who have yet to register their SIM cards can go to McDonald’s which will use its unused party areas as temporary SIM registration sites.
The following are the participating branches nationwide:
July 3, 5, 10
- Mart One
- Capas
- Calapan Roxas Drive
- Calapan
- Pili CamSur
- Marymart Iloilo
- Pavia
- Kabankalan City
- Robinson’s Place Iloilo
- Pison Avenue
- Cadiz
- San Carlos
- Araneta Bacolod
- Tagum Highway
- Limketkai
- Valencia
- Downtown Butuan
- San Franz
- Butuan Gaisano
- Gaisano Capital Surigao
July 3, 5, 10, 12
- Colon Osmena
- Escario
- Lapu Lapu City
- South Coast
- Carcar
- Toledo
- BQ MALL
- Ozamis Highway
- Koronadal
- Guiwan
- Gensan Highway
- Cotabato
- Lagao Gensan
July 3, 5, 10, 12, 17, 19, 24
- Naga City Plaza
- W Mall Bay City
Smart and TNT subscribers only need to bring a valid government ID to register for free at the nearest McDonald’s participating stores.
They also have the chance to win treats from the fast food chain.
A McDonald’s Philippines executive said that the initiative makes SIM registration more accessible to various Filipino communities.
“Just like how we turned our party areas into study halls (McClassroom) during the pandemic, we continue to maximize the use of our stores to cater to the evolving needs of the communities we’re in,” Oliver Rabatan, McDonald’s Philippines vice president and chief marketing officer, said in a release.
New and existing Smart Prepaid and TNT customers may also visit PLDT and Smart Stores, or access Smart’s SIM Registration portal through the following website link: https://www.smart.com.ph/simreg
Meanwhile, Smart postpaid customers are considered registered through their existing account details, in accordance with the law.
