Mexico extends deadline for mandatory mobile phone registration

The Comisión Reguladora de Telecomunicaciones (CRT) announced a rollout of the mandatory registration of mobile lines to the CURP, extending the deadline to 31 December 2026. The extension follows a staggered calendar based on the last digit of each number: 0 – 15 Aug, 1 – 31 Aug, 2 – 15 Sep, 3 – 30 Sep, 4 – 15 Oct, 5 – 31 Oct, 6 – 15 Nov, 7 – 30 Nov, 8 – 15 Dec, 9 – 31 Dec. To date, 63 million of the roughly 144 million lines have been linked – 40.2 million prepaid and 22.8 million post‑paid. Lines that remain unregistered will be suspended for up to 72 hours, allowing only emergency calls, contact with the operator and seismic alerts. Registration is carried out by telecom companies, which associate the user’s name and CURP to the SIM; the data are kept by the operators and may be accessed by authorities with a court order. The measure aims to curb fraud and extortion and bring Mexico in line with about 166 countries that require subscriber identification.