Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 20) — The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) hopes telco players could link more mobile subscribers to their IDs, as the agency identified 45 remote areas for SIM registration.

“It is vital that we maintain, or better yet increase, the current pace of daily SIM registration to meet the deadline of 26 April 2023 for all SIMs to be duly registered,” NTC Officer-in-Charge Commissioner Ella Blanca Lopez said in a statement Friday.

Almost a month after activating the mandatory SIM registration, Lopez said they had identified 45 remote areas within 15 regions across the country, with the list now forwarded to telco companies.

Some areas in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao would also be covered, the NTC official said.

READ: Explainer: What you need to know about the SIM registration law

The NTC wants a simultaneous rollout of SIM registration activities in the identified locations starting Jan. 25.

Based on its data, more than 22.2 million SIM cards, or 13.20% of subscribers, were registered as of Jan. 18.

DITO Telecommunity already registered 1,844,675 SIM cards; Globe has 9,337,537; while Smart has 11,115,808.