The Minister of Communications and Digitalization, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has said that all SIM cards which have completed the first stage of the registration exercise but not done the second phase will be blocked from accessing data services on 20th November 2022 and completely deactivated on 30th November 2022.
She urged all persons who are yet to complete their registration to contact the National Communications Authority (NCA) or the requisite network operator if they require any assistance.
“A further announcement will be made shortly on measures to accommodate those who genuinely do not have Ghana cards, once the ongoing consultations have been completed.
I would like to applaud all players in the SIM Registration Exercise value chain on the achievements attained so far,” a statement she issued on Friday November 11 said.
As part of measures being taken to ensure a secure and safe digital ecosystem, the Government embarked on the SIM Registration Exercise.
This exercise is not meant to make life difficult for subscribers, but to protect consumers and businesses. The priority of the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation has always been to ensure digital inclusion and to provide a secure environment for Ghanaians to access digital services. The Ministry has been working tirelessly on the development and implementation of policies to this effect.
ICT should be accessible to all without any risk and the SIM Registration exercise will solve a lot of issues in the industry. We can all attest to the fact that there has been a noticeable decline in SIM-related fraud since thecommencement of the Registration Exercise.
Currently, 30,011,082 have completed the first stage (Linking of Ghana Card to SIM Number). As at 9th November 2022, 20,892,970 subscribers, had completed the SIM card registration (linkage and biometric). Almost 70% of these registrations have been completed.
One key reason why some of those who have linked phone numbers to Ghana cards have been unable to complete the bio capture of stage two is because they used other people’s cards to link their numbers.
This includes vendors who used the cards of others without the knowledge or consent of the card owners. Their inability to complete phase two attests to the robustness of the authentication process designed into the sim registration architecture.
It will flush out all fakes. You cannot use someone else’s Ghana card to register your sim.
Despite ample opportunity afforded all to complete the registration of their SIM cards, some who have the Ghana cards and have begun the process have failed to complete the registration. That is their choice and we cannot begrudge them.