The National Communications Authority (NCA) has disclosed that that approximately 11 million active but unregistered sim cards would be deactivated by the end of May.
“One of the things to note is that active mass sim registration for existing sims is coming to an end and, as mentioned earlier, we have approximately 11 million sims which are yet to begin the registration process.
“These subscribers have up to the end of May 2023 to complete their sim registration or have their sims deactivated from the network,“ Mr. Anokye said.
At a press conference held today in Accra, the Director General of NCA Joe Anokye announced that the NCA has deactivated 6.1 million subscriber identity module (sim) cards that haven’t been registered with a Ghana Card since the mass sim registration exercise began.
The government of Ghana announced a mobile phone sim card re-registration in September 2021 as a step to combat fraud and criminal activity involving mobile telecommunications systems and devices in Ghana.
About 40 million subscribers were expected to participate in the registration process, after which all unregistered sim cards were to be blocked.
Sim cards were supposed to be registered simultaneously with phones and other equipment when it was first announced in 2021, but that part of the process hasn’t yet taken place.
The main reason subscribers were unable to complete the process successfully was the difficulty in obtaining a Ghana Card, the only form of ID accepted for the re-registration exercise.
As customers flocked to the various offices of the telecommunication companies in an effort to have their cards re-registered, the technical difficulty of slow networks presented another difficulty.
The NCA justified the exercise by stating that it would aid in the security of sim card-based transactions and aid in the accurate determination of the precise number of valid and accurate sims on the telco networks at all times.
Additionally, the exercise will help operators create more accurate demographic profiles of their customer base and assist them in creating goods and services that cater to the various groupings.
In the NCA’s case, the exercise will enable it to make better use of the data produced in order to regulate the industry.
Since more people can now access e-government services and other, private e-services, the sim re-registration will boost economic growth and gradually formalise the informal sector.
In addition, financial inclusion across all vulnerable sectors will be supported by sim registration.
