A Senior Lecturer and Programme Coordinator of the Economic Policy Management Programme (EPMP) at the Department of Economics, University of Ghana, has lamented the long queues at SIM card registration centers of telecommunication companies across the country.
According to Prof. Festus Ebo Turkson, people spend long hours at these centers and often do not get the chance to get their SIM Cards registered which amounts to loss of productive hours. The Associate Professor of Economics recounted the sad experiences he had in an attempt to register his SIM Cards at the customer service points of some telecommunications companies without success.
“I have made an uncountable number of attempts to visit the customer service points of MTN, Vodafone and Airtel-Tigo to get my SIM cards linked to the Ghana card. In most cases, I had to leave after over an hour waiting in long queues that don’t move. The queues are just too long and I can imagine the productive hours lost to this simple process which should be possible to do with your phone or a website without having to visit any CSC of the telcos”.
Prof. Ebo Turkson
Professor Turkson, who was very disheartened with the process, questioned the basis of the directive and whether the loss of productive hours was considered before taking that decision to re-register SIM Cards at the Customer Service Centers (CSCs) of the telecommunication companies. As such, he urged the Minister in charge to intervene to ensure a smooth registration process to mitigate the loss of productive hours to individuals and the nation as a whole.
“I wonder who gives such directives. Does the person or persons consider the loss of productive hours to visit the CSCs? The Minister of Communication needs to intervene. Hmmmmm Ghana my beloved country!!!”
Prof. Ebo Turkson
Data from the National Communications Authority (NCA) showed that a total of 5,898,608 SIM Cards have been successfully linked to the Ghana Card as at December 17, 2021. The slow pace of the SIM Card registration process casts doubts on whether the March 31, 2022 deadline will be met, even though the Ministry of Communications and Digitalization (MoCD) warned that any SIM which is not registered at the end of this exercise will be blocked.
SIM Card Registration
The Ministry of Communications and Digitalization commenced the National SIM Card Registration Exercise across the country on October 1, 2021 after the sector Minister announced plans to re-register SIM Cards at a press conference on Sunday, September 5, 2021.
According to Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, the Subscriber Identity Module Registration Regulations, 2011, L.I 2006 mandates network operators or service providers to activate a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) only after the subscriber registers the SIM as directed by the NCA.
The Communications Minister stated that only the National Identity Card (Ghana Card) issued to an individual shall be used for registration of SIM cards of Citizens, Foreign Residents and Foreigners staying in Ghana for more than 90 days. She further explained that in the case of foreigners staying in Ghana for less than 90 days, a valid passport or other travel document is required.
Per the directive, individuals can register a total number of 10 SIM Cards across all networks and Foreigners will have a limit of 3 SIM Cards across all networks.
Mrs Owusu-Ekuful noted that “this isn’t the first attempt to register SIMs but all the previous efforts failed because of the lack of a verifiable secure identification document”. The situation, according to her, led to the influx of pre-registered SIM Cards in the system “hence our inability to track and trace people who commit crimes with the SIM cards”.
“The prevalence of fake IDs and a non-existent system of verifying the IDs, led to unscrupulous individuals procuring hundreds of SIM Cards for SIM Boxing leading to the loss of revenue for the state. The Ghana card provides the basis for a successful sim registration exercise this time”.
Mrs Owusu-Ekuful
Benefits of Registration
Mrs Owusu-Ekuful underscored that “SIM registration, when undertaken correctly as we intend to do, will reduce or eliminate fraudulent and criminal activities, help authorities ascertain the accurate number of valid and accurate SIMs on the networks, enable operators to build better demographics of their customer base and help them develop products and services to suit the various groupings”.
The Regulator, NCA, will also get more accurate data to regulate the industry even better, Mrs Owusu-Ekuful stated. She further indicated that the SIM Registration will enhance economic growth as more confidence is built in the telecommunications sector and people utilize secure devices to access E-Government services and other private mobile-based digital solutions. Mrs Owusu-Ekuful added that it will minimize mobile money fraud and support financial inclusion across the vulnerable sectors.
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