Minister for Communication and Digitalization Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has stated that the Ministry would not extend the set deadline for the nationwide SIM card registration exercise.
She reiterated how all unregistered SIM cards would be deactivated by the end of July this year, and advised mobile phone users yet to register their SIM cards to do so to meet the deadline.
The exercise which began on 1st October 2021, was originally scheduled to end on 31st March 2022 but was extended by the sector Ministry to 31st July 2022, due to the issue where 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 Minister, over, 12 million Ghanaians have so far linked their Ghana cards to their SIM cards.
Speaking at a forum by the National Communications Authority (NCA) in Kumasi, she stated that the exercise will ultimately help build a credible and safe SIM card database in Ghana.
“Most people access their internet through their mobile devices. 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. Essentially, 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.” she said.
