2023-04-30 07:57:28
The Ghanaian government launched the Telecom Subscriber ID campaign in October 2021. More than a year later, millions of people still have not linked their SIM cards to their ID cards despite the extension of the deadline to many times.
The Ghana National Communications Authority (NCA) plans to disconnect some 11.1 million active SIM cards on May 31, if they are not registered before. The initiative was unveiled by Joe Anokye (pictured), chief executive of the regulator, at a press conference in Accra on Wednesday April 26.
According to Mr. Anokye, the SIM cards concerned are those which have not yet started the registration process. The SIM cards of Ghanaians on mission abroad, foreign diplomats in the country and refugees will be exempt. Citizens who have not yet received their national biometric cards can also continue to use their SIM cards following the deadline.
The campaign to identify Ghanaian telecom subscribers started on October 1, 2021 and was due to end on March 31, 2022. However, the deadline was extended to July 31, as a large majority of SIM cards had not yet been registered and a large part of the population had not yet obtained the national biometric identity card. The government had to extend the deadline to September 30 and then to November 30.
According to official figures, around 25 million out of 36.57 million SIM cards have been fully registered as of April 25. They have been linked to 13 million unique national biometric cards. Some 6.4 million SIM cards that did not complete both stages of the process were deactivated as of March 10.
Akonye believes that registering SIM cards will help build trust in Ghana’s digital ecosystems. “As we continually increase the use of digital technologies in all aspects of our daily lives, the critical role of the SIM registration exercise cannot be overlooked. In fact, Ghana’s digital transformation agenda relies in part on a credible SIM registry and a competitive telecommunications industry,” he added.
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