The National Communications Authority (NCA) has deactivated 6.1 million subscriber identity module (sim) cards that have not been registered with a Ghana Card since the inception of the mass sim registration exercise.
The NCA director general, Joe Anokye, who made this known today at a press briefing in Accra, said roughly 11 million more active but unregistered sim cards would be deactivated by the end of May this year.
“One of the things to note is that active mass sim registration for existing sims is coming to a close and, as mentioned earlier, we have about 11 million sims which are yet to begin the registration process,“ Anokye said.
“These subscribers have up to the end of May 2023 to complete their sim registration or have their sims deactivated from the network.“
Sim re-registration
The re-registration of mobile phone sim cards was announced by the government in September 2021 as a measure to help stem fraud and criminal activity by means of mobile telecommunication devices and systems in Ghana.
The registration exercise was expected to cover about 40 million subscribers, after which all unregistered sim cards were to be blocked.
When it was announced in 2021, the plan was to register sim cards concurrently with the registration of handsets and equipment, although that phase of the exercise is yet to manifest.
The challenge in acquiring a Ghana Card, the only form of ID admitted for the re-registration exercise, was the main excuse subscribers cited for why they were unable to go through the process successfully.
The technical difficulty of slow networks was another challenge as subscribers thronged the various offices of the telecommunication companies in an effort to get their cards re-registered.
Justifying the exercise, the NCA said it would help secure sim card-based transactions, as well as help determine, at every point in time, the accurate number of valid and accurate sims on the telco networks.
Also, for operators, the exercise will enable them to build better demographic profiles of their customer base and help them develop products and services to suit the various groupings.
In the case of the regulator, the NCA, the exercise will help it to use the data generated to regulate the industry even better.
Economically, the sim re-registration will enhance growth and gradually formalise the informal sector, as many more people will now be able to access e-government services and other, private e-services.
In addition, the sim registration will support financial inclusion across the vulnerable sectors.