The Ministry of Communications and Digitalization has served notice that all unregistered sim cards will be blocked permanently at the end of October.

The new grace period according to the Ministry, is to encourage persons who have started the registration process but are yet to complete it to do so.

A press statement signed by Ursula Owusu Ekufful, Minister of Communication and Digitalization, further stated that this is not an extension of the previous deadline, but a temporary moratorium for those who are yet to complete the process.

“All SIM cards that have been linked to the Ghana Card but have not completed stage 2 of the process will be blocked from the end of October. This is not an extension of the deadline, but a temporary moratorium to encourage these individuals to complete the process.”
Hon.Ursula Owusu Ekkuful

According to the Ministry, only SIMs including those issued by Surfline, Busy Internet, Telesol, and any other Institution such as ECG, have up to the end of November 2022 to complete registration.

The Minister said that some people have registered more than ten (10) Sim Cards for personal use in contravention of the sim card registration directive of 10 sim cards per person, and the database has identified them.

“All those cards will be cleaned from the data base. The culprits, as a matter of urgency, have been asked to delink the unwanted Sim Cards immediately because any excess cards will be removed from the database.It is only institution that can register more than ten sims”
Hon.Ursula Owusu Ekkuful

Progress on registration process

Touching on the progress made so far with the process, the statement mentioned that 28,959,006 SIM cards have been linked to the Ghana Card, which is the first phase of registration process, representing 67.28 percent of the 42,749,662 total sim cards issued nationally.

It indicated that 18,390,664 SIM cards have been fully registered, representing 44.28 percent of the total number of SIM cards issued. Mrs Ekufful stated that with this process, nobody can use another person’s details to register a SIM card without the person’s knowledge.

The statement emphasized that the government is fully committed to ensuring that the country has a safe digital ecosystem “underpinning our collective cybersecurity”.

The release noted that some persons have had difficulties obtaining their Ghana Cards which is hindering them from registering but also acknowledged persons who have their cards and have refused to register. The Ministry Further commended persons who have successfully completed their registration process.