Data from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) showed more than 11 million SIM cards were registered in the Philippines less than a week after the launch of a new law aimed at curbing text scams.

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) secretary Ivan John Uy announced SIM registration hit 11.2 million on 2 January. Smart Communications, the mobile unit of PLDT, had 5.2 million registrations, Globe Telecom 5 million and Dito Telecommunity 1 million.

The country ended September with 168.2 million prepaid mobile connections, data from GSMA Intelligence showed.

The SIM registration act went into effect on 27 December, 15 days after the NTC issued implementing rules and regulations.

The government in October approved the law requiring prepaid users to register and verify their phone numbers with their service provider within 180 days of the law going into effect.

The deadline for registration is 26 April.