Overview
- The Diario Oficial this week published CRT changes that require a 'prueba de vida' for in-person SIM linkage and set a staggered calendar for prepaid lines from 15 August to 31 December 2026 based on a line's last digit.
- Telecom operators must send recurring SMS warnings to unlinked numbers and are authorized to suspend prepaid service within 72 hours after each assigned deadline, leaving suspended lines able only to call emergency, carrier and official alert numbers.
- CRT says biometric data will not be stored and that proof-of-life only verifies a real person, but the Diario Oficial does not mandate a single technical method, so carriers' in-person checks and data handling vary.
- Legal resistance is mounting: about 10,300 citizens have filed amparos, including a collective suit led from Chihuahua, and at least one court has issued provisional limits on retaining biometric material.
- The authority reports roughly 63 million linked lines but millions remain unregistered, raising risks of digital exclusion for people who rely on prepaid phones for banking, work and essential services if suspensions proceed.