More than 9.3 million cell phones linked to the CURP

From January 9 to February 23, 9 million 311 thousand 607 cell phone lines were linked to the official identification and the Unique Population Registration Code (CURP) of those who use them, in compliance with the official provision to avoid extortion and other crimes through the use of mobile phones, reported the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (CRT) in response to a query from The Day.

This second cut shows an increase of 5 million 922 thousand 811 registrations compared to the initial period, which began on January 9. Between that date and January 21, 3 million 388 thousand 796 cell lines had completed the process.

So far, progress has been concentrated on individuals, since it is expected that operators will go to companies to register their numbers.

The CRT specified that in the country there are 158 million active lines, of which 85 percent are anonymous because they are prepaid and only 15 percent are associated with a person, since they were contracted in the postpaid modality and are associated with bank cards.

In 2024, 7.4 million extortions were reported, of which approximately 90 percent were telephone extortions. This was the main reason for forcing Telcel, Movistar, ATT and Altán Redes to conform the records.

Each telephone company will integrate its records separately and there will not be a centralized national registry, as was attempted in 2009 with the National Registry of Mobile Telephony Users (Renaut), which was in charge of the Ministry of Communications and Transport, and with the National Register of Mobile Telephony Users (Panaut, 2021), the responsibility of the defunct Federal Institute of Telecommunications.

Every month, 300 thousand new prepaid lines

Users of prepaid lines can register at the branches of their mobile phone provider or remotely. In this second modality, a proof of life (self-portrait) will be required in order to verify the identity of the users and validate the official identification they provide.

According to the CRT, the companies that telephone operators use to validate the identity of clients are the same ones that banks hire.

Ernesto Piedras, general director of the consulting firm The Competitive Intelligence Unit, commented that the prepaid segment in Mexico is growing by 300 thousand lines per month, which are granted after connection.