Ursula Owusu-Ekuful
THE GOVERNMENT has expressed its resolve not to further extend the July 31 deadline for the registration of SIM cards with the Ghana Card.
Minister for Communications and Digitalisation, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, who made this known at a forum by the National Communications Authority (NCA) in Kumasi, said the deadline would not be extended for a second time.
The exercise which began on 1st October, 2021, was originally scheduled to end on 31st March, 2022. It was, however, given a four-month extension to allow for the over 7.5 million citizens and residents at the time, were yet to obtain their Ghana Card, to enable them register their SIM cards.
A new deadline of 31st July, 2022, was therefore given.
According to the minister over, 12 million Ghanaians have so far linked their Ghana Cards to their SIM Cards.
She stated that the exercise will ultimately help build a credible and safe SIM Card database for the country.
“Most people access their internet through their mobile devices. We must make sure that they do so safely. We must make it difficult for the criminals who hack our systems and defraud us through multiple online channels to operate, and this SIM registration exercise is one of the steps the government is taking in that regard. Essentially this stresses the point that this exercise will enable the establishment of a subscriber database with integrity to keep the consumers safe from scams and fraud.”
“I therefore take this opportunity to urge all those who’ve not registered their SIM cards to do so as the deadline of 31st July, 2022 will not be extended,” she added.
BY Jamila Akweley Okertchiri