Director for Consumer and Corporate Affairs of the National Communications Authority (NCA), Nana Defie Badu, has disclosed that the ongoing SIM re-registration exercise being organised across the country comes at no cost to the state.

She revealed that the only expense the country is bearing is for the promotion of the exercise. Mrs Badu explained that the cost of the promotion exercise is also being catered for by the NCA with assistance from the Mobile Network Operators.

“I am sure you may have seen from the online platforms of some of the MNOs that they are actually sharing the communication that we are going with.

“So, this SIM re-registration exercise is at no cost to the state whatsoever, we are not paying anything for this. The only cost to the state will be the cost of the public education”.
Mrs Nana Defie Badu

Mrs Badu stated that although there are no official numbers yet, the NCA’s checks show that quite a number of people have completed the first stage of the re-registration since the launch of the exercise.

She explained that the exercise will aid consumers to stay connected, making sure they are able to receive communication services and to secure their SIM-based transactions.

“For the regulator (NCA), it helps us to be able to develop a SIM database with integrity. We also want to be able to boost and build some security regarding services which are based on the use of communication services and it will help us develop and regulate the industry even better”.
Mrs Nana Defie Badu

Mrs Badu noted that the SIM re-registration exercise will among other things help operators to know the exact subscribers they have. This, she explained will enable them to also develop services around those demographic groups.

Re-registration of SIM cards

The re-registration of SIM cards officially commenced on Friday, October 1, 2021 for a six months period and expected to end on March 31, 2021.

The exercise, which is in accordance with the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Registration Regulations, 2011, LI 2006 is to curb SIM Boxing and other criminal activities perpetrated by fraudsters using fake SIM cards and facilitate E-education, among others.

A Ghanaian can register a total of 10 SIM cards across all networks but you can only do so with a Ghana card. Minister of Communications and Digitalisation, Mrs Ursula Owusu- Ekuful revealed that unregistered SIMs after the deadline will be deactivated.

In a bid to rid the country’s cyberspace of fraud, monitor and track down persons who use their phones for criminal activities, the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia recently disclosed that plans were underway to ensure that all Ghanaians with SIM cards re-register them using the National Identification card, also known as Ghana card.

The move was criticized by the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, who argued that undertaking a SIM re-registration exercise will not solve the issue of Mobile Money fraud as expected by Dr. Bawumia.

According to him, the Vice President’s comment was “ill-informed, inept and highly naïve”. As such, the solution to the challenges of fraud within the electronic money ecosystem goes beyond SIM registration.