Communications and Digitalisation Minister Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has said there will not be another extension of the SIM card re-registration exercise scheduled to end on 31 July 2022.
At a forum by the National Communications Authority (NCA) in Kumasi, Ashanti Region, Mrs Owusu-Ekuful, said: “Most people access their internet through their mobile devices” and, thus, “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”, she explained.
“Essentially”, she noted, “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 31 July 2022 will not be extended,” she announced.
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The ministry extended the initial 31 March 2022 deadline for the re-registration to 31 July 2022.
A statement from the ministry issued on Tuesday, 22 March 2022, said: “As of 17 March, 14,091,542 SIM cards had been linked to the Ghana card” while “10,348,532 bio-captures” had been conducted and 99,445 new SIMs registered.
The ministry said, “Due to a number of factors including the fact that over 7.5 million citizens and residents are yet to obtain Ghana cards to enable them to register their SIM cards, it is clear that the deadline for the completion of the registration of the remaining active SIM cards cannot be met”.
Also, it said, “More time will also be required to update the SIM registration app for the registration of diplomats while a self-service SIM registration app is also being developed to facilitate the registration of SIM cards for Ghanaians resident abroad”.
