The National Communications Authority (NCA) says it will soon announce plans for the re-registration of Ghanaian SIM cards that are being used outside Ghana.
“We know that there are quite a number of Ghanaian SIM cards that are being used outside Ghana. In due time, we will come up with a process to have them registered. The key thing is that they must have a Ghana card,” the Director of Communications at the NCA, Kwame Gyan, said on the Citi Breakfast Show.
The re-registration of SIM cards which started on October 1, 2021, is expected to last for six months, ending on March 31, 2022.
The exercise is in accordance with the Subscriber Identity Module Registration Regulations, 2011, LI 2006 to curb SIM boxing and other criminal activities.
Any SIM which is not registered at the end of this exercise will be blocked.
Mr. Gyan clarified that SIM cards that are not in active use six months after re-registration will also be blocked.
“If you do not use your SIM actively for three months, it gets into a certain pool and after six months, it gets put back into the system again. Once you are not using the SIM card, it does not matter whether you registered with Ghana card, it will still have to be churned back because it is inactive. This is the standard practice for SIM management across the world.”
Passport for SIM re-registration not reliable
The National Identification Authority (NIA) has already justified the use of Ghana cards for re-registration of SIM cards, saying the passports lack the credibility Ghana Cards offers.
Speaking on The Point of View on Citi TV, the Executive Secretary of the NIA, Prof. Ken Attafuah, said “the Ghana Card is a far superior index of your identity.”
“A passport is a primary document for establishing your citizenship and eligibility to travel across borders but even so, you see visa requirements. There is a limit,” he said.
Prof. Attafuah also noted that the Ghana Card registration process provides evidence of why passports could not fully be trusted.
