Ghana to deactivate unregistered SIMs from March 10

Ghana's National Communications Authority (NCA) is warning mobile users who have not completed a government mandated SIM registration process that they will have services deactivated from March 10, 2023, if they don't comply.

Ghana's SIM registration process began back in October 2021 and has two parts. In stage one, citizens need to link their national identity document called a "Ghana Card" to their SIM cards.

Stage two requires citizens to scan their biometrics at a physical store or by using a self-service mobile SIM registration app that was launched in August 2022.

"To reiterate, the importance of the SIM registration exercise is to develop and build a SIM database with integrity, which will assist in curbing fraudulent activities," the NCA said in a statement on Monday.

"The NCA, therefore, continues to urge all subscribers to complete their SIM registrations with their Ghana Cards to avoid deactivation," the regulator continued.

The country's Minister of Communications and Digitalization, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, said the number of SIM cards which have not attempted to re-register at all stood at 8.7 million as of February 9, 2023.

However, the number of people that had already completed the process of SIM registration so far was 25.2 million, local publication B&FT Online reported.

That's about three-fifths of the total 43.3 million mobile subscribers in Ghana, according to stats from Omdia.

The NCA further warned that subscribers who begin the registration process stage one and do not complete their registration within a period of two weeks will have their SIM deactivated from their networks.

In December MTN Ghana shut off services to approximately 5.7 million subscribers who have not properly registered their SIM cards.

Africa's SIM registration trends

SIM registration regulations have been changing and modernizing in several African countries with similar drives by governments to get SIM cards linked to national ID cards. Ghana has even launched a self-service app aimed at encouraging its citizens to register their SIM cards.

Ghanaians who have not completed a SIM registration process are at risk of being disconnected in early March. (Source: Image by ASphotofamily on Freepik).

The West African country's registration deadline had been moved several times since the process' inception in October 2021.

In October 2022, the government warned that it is illegal for vendors to pre-register and sell SIMs and that those breaking the law could face up to five years in prison.

Several African countries have been changing and modernizing their SIM registration processes. Namibians have until December 31, 2023, to register their mobile SIM cards with their identity documents.

Similar drives have taken place in Nigeria, Kenya, and Lesotho have taken place to get SIMs linked to national ID cards.

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*Top image source: Image by Freepik

— Matshepo Sehloho, Associate Editor, Connecting Africa