SIM Registration: NCA to allow Ghanaians without Ghana Card register SIM cards
The Minister for Communications and Digitalisation, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, has revealed that some measures are being put in place to ensure that Ghanaians who genuinely do not have their Ghana Cards are able to register their SIM cards in the ongoing SIM card registration exercise.
Making the disclosure in a statement issued on Friday, November 11, 2022, the Minister noted the said measures will be announced after the completion of ongoing consultations with the relevant stakeholders.
“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,” said the Minister.
A section of the Ghanaian populace have attributed their inability to register their SIM cards in the ongoing registration exercise to not having their Ghana Cards meant to be made available to them by the National Identification Authority (NIA).
The Minister, further in the statement, notes that all SIM cards which have completed the first stage of the registration exercise but not the second phase will be blocked from accessing data services on November 20, 2022 and further completely deactivated on November 30, 2022.
According to the Minister, about 30 million SIM subscribers have completed the first stage of the registration exercise (linking of Ghana card to SIM number).
As of November 9, some 20.8 million SIM subscribers had completed the SIM card registration exercise (linkage and biometric).
Read details of statement below:
UPDATE ON THE SIM CARD REGISTRATION EXERCISE
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 the commencement 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.
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.
Kindly contact the NCA or the requisite network operator if you 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.
Other Consumer Protection Measures
At the inception of the SIM Registration Exercise, we announced that the maximum number of SIMs that can be registered by an individual is ten sims. All citizens and residents are hereby advised to check the number of SIMs registered to their Ghana Card at the end of November when the facility will be activated. To ensure that they retain the mandated number of SIM Cards, any additional SIM registered above the mandated number of 10 will be deactivated.
All MNOs must also properly categorise registered corporate SIMs.
Conclusion
The Government is working to provide an enabling environment for all to access and use digital platforms by fostering the development of these technologies including SIM enabled ones. I urge all to support this registration initiative and cooperate with the authorities to ensure its success for our collective good.
Thank you
MRS. URSULA OWUSU-EKUFUL (MP)
MINISTER
