By: Yvonne Atilego
The SIM CARD re-registration has been extended for another two months and will end on the 30th of September 2022. This to afford those who were unable to register within the stipulated time to do so.
Government had initially set July 31 as the deadline for all persons to re-register their SIM cards with their Ghana Cards.
However, not all Ghaianains have been able to secure their Ghana Card for the registration hence their inability to register on time.
The Minister of Communications and Digitilization, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful announcing the extension date at a media briefing in Accra said any sim that has not been registered by the set date will have their SIM CARDS barred.
Meanwhile a SIM Registration App will be available for download on both android and IOS this week.
Minister for Communication and Digitilisation Ursula Owusu-Ekuful who announced this said each registration via the app will be subject to a 5 cedi surcharge.
She also noted that Non-resident Ghanaians who do not have the Ghana card can use their passports to complete the process but will be required to update their details with the Ghana card once they acquire it. They have up till December 2022 to do so.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION SOURCE: GRAPHICONLINE
The re-registration is to help law enforcement agencies to identify SIM card owners, track criminals who use SIM cards for illegal activities and curb fraudulent activities.
It is also to develop and build a SIM database with integrity, which will aid the determination of the accurate number of valid SIM cards on the various telecommunication networks at any point in time
However, many Ghanaians have been unable to acquire their Ghana cards to complete the registration process.
The National Identification Authority (NIA) has so far handed out over 15.7 million Ghana Cards whereas some 808,493 cards have been printed but not yet issued. According to the Executive Secretary of the NIA, Prof. Kenneth Agyemang Attafuah, 16,969,034 persons have registered for the Ghana Card but only 16,535,623 cards have been printed.
SIM registration timeline
The SIM re-registration commenced on October 1, 2021.
The six-month exercise which was expected to end on March 31, 2022, was extended by another 4 months to July 31, 2022.
That extension was granted to enable over 7.5 million Ghanaians and residents who had not obtained Ghana Cards at the time to register their SIM.
Current SIM Registration Statistics
The Minister said as of July 20, 2022, the total number of Voice SIMs stood at 41, 979,398. Out of this number, 15,395,607 had linked their Ghana Card to their sim cards.
Watch the briefing below;
