The Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications has asked customers of telcos in the country not to pay to have their SIM cards registered in the ongoing registration exercise.
According the Chamber, the registration is free and must not attract any fee.
The Chamber has therefore advised the general public against making payment for the registration exercise.
Similarly, the Chamber has also cautioned SIM registration agents of mobile network operators to desist from charging fees in the ongoing exercise.
In a statement, the Chamber stated “it is illegal and fraudulent for anybody to pay any amount as the cost of registration”.
“The Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications on behalf of its members –AirtelTigo, MTN and Vodafone – wishes to notify its esteemed customers and the general public that the ongoing SIM registration exercise is absolutely FREE and subscribers are not supposed to pay any agent any fee. The activity is a national exercise which is being funded by the government and the mobile network operators,” the statement added,
The Chmaber has therefore warned individuals perpetuating this illegality to desist from it.
The re-registration of mobile SIM cards is expected to last for six months, ending on March 31, 2022.
The exercise is in accordance with the Subscriber Identity Module Registration Regulations, 2011, LI 2006 to curb SIM boxing and other criminal activities which are mostly perpetrated by fraudsters using fake SIM cards.
SIM card users will require the National Identification card to be able to register their SIM cards.
Any SIM which is not registered at the end of this exercise will be blocked, according to NCA.
By Vincent Kubi