Mexico Reactivates 3.6 Million Suspended Cellphone Lines

Mexico City — Mexico’s telecommunications regulator said it has reactivated more than 3.6 million cellphone lines ending in zero that were suspended earlier this month for failing to complete a mandatory registration.

The Comisión Reguladora de Telecomunicaciones (CRT) said 3,627,213 lines were restored between Aug. 16 and Aug. 25, after being cut off for not being linked to the country’s Unique Population Registry Code (CURP) or Federal Taxpayer Registry (RFC) by the Aug. 15 deadline.

The lines ending in zero were the first group required to register under a government effort to tie every mobile number to a verified identity. So far, 10,949,349 of the 12.2 million lines in that category have been linked, the agency said.

In total, Mexico now has 75,852,485 mobile numbers linked to users, representing 52.68 percent of the country’s roughly 144 million active lines. That leaves about 68.1 million numbers still awaiting registration.

Under the official schedule, lines ending in 1 must be registered by Aug. 31; ending in 2 by Sept. 15; ending in 3 by Sept. 30; ending in 4 by Oct. 15; ending in 5 by Oct. 31; ending in 6 by Nov. 15; ending in 7 by Nov. 30; ending in 8 by Dec. 15; and ending in 9 by Dec. 31.

The CRT said users can also register their lines at any time regardless of the number’s final digit, either in person at their carrier’s customer service centers — Telcel, AT&T, Movistar or Altán Redes, which operates the Bait brand — or remotely through the carriers’ online platforms. The agency’s website, registratulinea.crt.gob.mx, provides links to each company’s registration portal.