National Communications Authority (NCA) says SIM card users in Ghana who have not re-registered their SIM Cards will start facing punitive actions from September 5, 2022.
According to the NCA, the initial punitive measures will include the rerouting of outgoing calls for special messages to be played.
Furtherance to that outgoing calls and Data Services for a sequential batch of numbers will be blocked for 48 hours (2 days) once a week on rotational basis.
Within September, these measures shall not include the blocking of SMS services to give defaulting subscribers the opportunity to initiate registration if they so wish.
The on-going SIM registration exercise is scheduled to end on September 30, 2022.
Persons who fail to register will suffer consequences.
As part of the punitive measures, the NCA said there would will be re-routing of all outgoing calls to IVR for a message to be played before all calls go through everyday.
“Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) shall divide the Unregistered SIMS into five (5) batches for the purpose of implementing this punitive measure.
“These measures shall exclude blocking of SMS to give defaulting subscribers the opportunity to initiate registration if they so wish.
“Subscribers who fully register their SIM Cards within the period they have been blocked will only be unblocked by the MNOs after the 48 hours to avoid the MNOs tampering with their systems intermittently,” the NCA said in a statement dated September 2 to Operators on Directives on Punitive Actions for Unregistered SIM Cards.
By Vincent Kubi