Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, the minister for communications and digitalization, has issued a warning that the deadline for registering SIM cards in Ghana won’t be postponed a second time.
The exercise, which started on October 1, 2021, was initially intended to end on March 31, 2022, but the sector ministry extended it to July 31, 2022, because more than 7.5 million citizens and residents at the time had not yet received their Ghana Cards, which would have allowed them to register their SIM cards.
According to NewsGhana.com.gh,Over 12 million Ghanaians, according to the Minister, have linked their SIM cards and Ghana cards to date.
She said that the exercise will ultimately aid in the creation of a reliable and secure SIM card database in Ghana while speaking at a forum hosted by the National Communications Authority (NCA) in Kumasi.
“Most individuals use their mobile devices to access the internet. We have to make sure they do so securely. This SIM registration exercise is one of the steps the government is taking in that direction. We must make it difficult for the criminals who hack our systems and defraud us through numerous online channels to operate. In essence, this emphasizes the idea that this exercise will make it possible to create a subscriber database with integrity to protect customers from fraud and scams.
Since the deadline of July 31, 2022, won’t be extended, she added, “I take this opportunity to urge everyone who hasn’t registered their SIM cards to do so.”
Due to the fact that the owners of those SIM cards do not yet have Ghana Cards, millions of SIM cards are still unregistered with Ghana Card. Others continue to join the lines at the various registration outlets even though they have already registered but have not yet received their Ghana Cards.
All of the country’s carriers have implemented a variety of plans to speed up SIM registration as the deadline draws near.
Particularly, Vodafone is providing new customers who register between now and July 31 with a free 1GB of data and 100 minutes of airtime, while MTN has improved registration channels, including digital channels and door-to-door, to make it simpler for users to register.
Meanwhile, a number of the nation’s banks have also made available digital platforms for consumers to update their account information using the Ghana Card.