Comply with SIM card re-registration timelines – Oppong Nkrumah

Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has urged all mobile users to comply with the timelines for the SIM card re-registration to enhance national security and curb fraudulent activities.

Speaking at a press briefing in Accra on Wednesday, April 26, 2023, the Minister said the exercise is an essential measure to enhance national security, curb fraudulent activities, and prevent identity theft as well as help in ensuring a safer and more secure cyberspace for all.

“It is important for everyone to comply with the SIM card re-registration exercise to avoid being disconnected from the network. The exercise is aimed at enhancing national security and curbing fraudulent activities, and it is in the collective interest of all citizens to comply,” he said.

This comes on the back of the National Communications Authority’s (NCA) indication that some 6.1 million SIM cards that have not been registered with a Ghana card since the inception of the mass SIM re-registration exercise have been deactivated.

The deactivated SIMs belong to subscribers that had completed only stage one of the registration process.

The exercise began on 1st October 2021 and was scheduled to end on 31st March 2022 but was extended by the sector Ministry to 31st July 2022, due to the fact that over 7.5 million citizens and residents at the time, were yet to obtain their Ghana Card, to enable them register their SIM cards.

According to the Director-General of the NCA, Mr. Joe Anokye, about 11 million SIMs are yet to begin the registration process.

These subscribers, he said have up to the end of May 2023 to complete their SIM registration or have their SIMs deactivated from the network,

This Mr. Oppong Nkrumah urged compliance with the SIM card re-registration to ensure that the personal information of mobile users are captured on the Central SIM Registration Database and up-to-date to avoid being disconnected from any network.