Some 18,930,664 SIM Cards have been fully registered as of October 4, 2022 base on the SIM Registration directives and the process.
The figure represents 44.28 per cent of the 42,749,662 total SIM cards which had been issued by the mobile network operators (MNOs) as of October 4, 2022.
These SIM Cards have fully completed both Stages 1 and 2, which is linking the SIM to a Ghana Card and verifying it with the users’ biometrics since commencement of the exercise on October 1, 2021.
A total of 28,959,006 SIM cards have been linked to Ghana Cards but are yet to complete stage 2 of the process which is verifying it with the users’ biometrics, representing 67.28 per cent of the 42,749,662 total SIM cards issued nationally, according to a press release issued by the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation on Monday October 17.
The Ministry explained in its statement that the primary objective of the SIM Registration exercise, is to protect users against fraud, promote collective security and advance the transformational digital agenda.
It said 13,720,687 unique counts of Ghana Cards have been used so far for the registration exercise.
The Ministry warned that all SIM cards that have been linked to Ghana cards, that is completed Stage 1 registration, but have not completed Stage 2 registration of biometrically verifying users, will be blocked from the end of October 2022 because it is not extending the September 30, 2022 deadline.
However, it is giving a temporary moratorium to the end of October to encourage individuals to complete the process.
According to the ministry, there are almost 10 million people who have already done Stage 1 of the registration by linking their cards to the Ghana Card, but are yet to go through Stage 2.
For SIM cards that have been linked to Ghana Cards but are yet to complete stage 2 of the process, that is to verify it with the users’ biometrics, the total figure is 28,959,006 and involving almost 10 million users.
SIM Card users who have peculiar challenges, are to contact the National Communications Authority (NCA) to have their challenges resolved, the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation has indicated.
The reason is that, the users have the Ghana card, and have started the process of registration but have not been able to complete it and therefore are being encouraged to complete it.
All other unregistered SIMs will also be blocked progressively at the end of October 2022, the ministry said.
“There is no excuse for this since these individuals have their Ghana Cards, have started the process and had ample opportunity to fully register their SIM Cards, including through the use of the self registration app which is the first of its kind in the world.
“There may be some who are opposed to the SIM Card registration exercise for either ideological, philosophical, or political reasons. Let me just remind them that they may be exercising their right to opt out of this exercise but all actions have consequences. All unregistered SIMs will be deactivated,” the statement signed by the Minister of Communication and Digitalisation, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful said.
She observed that people who have registered more than ten SIM cards for personal use in contravention of the SIM card registration directive of 10 SIMs per person have been identified by the database, adding that all those SIM cards are to be cleaned from the database.
The culprits, as a matter of urgency, have been asked to delink the unwanted SIM Cards immediately because any excess SIM cards over the individual limit of 10 SIMs per person will be removed from the database and blocked.
By Vincent Kubi