Mexico's CRT to unregistered phone users: one month to comply

Details: Vaughan O'Grady; Category: Regulation; 15 December 2025; 7928 views

Mexico plans to suspend unregistered mobile lines very early in 2026, a deadline that allows only a matter of weeks for consumers to respond.

The country’s telecommunications regulator, the Comision Reguladora de Telecomunicaciones (CRT), announced recently that all mobile phone lines not associated with the name of an individual or legal entity will be suspended starting 9 January 2026.

The measure is part of new official guidelines for mobile phone line identification, which were published on 9 December.

Press reports say that users have one month to submit their personal data to the telephone company providing their service. Registration will involve presenting either a voter ID card or passport as well as a CURP (Unique Population Registry Code). For lines belonging to companies, the RFC (Federal Taxpayer Registry) certificate must be provided.

If registration is not completed within the established period, the lines will become inactive, allowing only emergency calls.

Under the new rules mandatory registration will be extended to prepaid services as well as postpaid lines, with the intention of harmonising international practices and strengthening trust in the sector.

The CRT insists that user information will be safeguarded by the telephone operators themselves, in compliance with existing privacy and personal data laws.

As has been the case with many such initiatives in recent years, the regulator states that the main objective in this case is to eliminate the anonymity that facilitates the use of mobile phones for criminal activities.

However, it’s not clear how many numbers could be involved. Many countries have had to extend deadlines after the time allowed proved too short for some end users or there was inadequate support for registration.