All unregistered SIM Cards shall be fully deactivated on Wednesday, November 30, 2022. This is the final notice from the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation.
According to a statement signed by sector, Minister, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful SIM cards that have been linked to Ghana Cards but not done the second phase of registration will be blocked from accessing data services on November 20 and subsequently deactivated on Wednesday, November 30.
The statement explained that the exercise forms part of measures to reduce SIM-related fraud incidents, which have currently seen a decline with the commencement of the exercise.
It explained the system has detected that difficulty in capturing their biometric data of persons are associated with the use of Ghana cards details of other persons for the registration processes.
“One key reason why some of those who have linked phone numbers to Ghana Cards have been unable to complete the bio capture of stage two is because they used other people’s cards to link their numbers. This includes vendors who used the cards of others without the knowledge or consent of the card owners,” the statement issued today, said.
It described the inability of the affected persons to complete phase two attests to the robustness of the authentication process designed into the SIM registration architecture.
The Minister asserted that the National Communications Authority in collaboration with the telcos, will subsequently flush out all fakes SIM cards.
“ You cannot use someone else’s Ghana Card to register your SIM,” the Minister outlined.
This is expected to take place after ongoing consultations have been completed, she noted.
Currently, a total of 30,011,082 SIM cards have been linked to Ghana Cards, thereby completing the first phase of the registration process.
As of November 9, 20,892,970 subscribers had completed both the linkage and capture of their biometric data.
