The government has announced the commencement of processes for a nationwide SIM card re-registration exercise, following Cabinet deliberations.
The announcement was made by the Minister for Communication, Innovations, and Digital Technologies, Samuel Nartey George, during a keynote address at the 2026 Data Protection Commission Conference.
According to the minister, the upcoming SIM re-registration will be structured to ensure customer convenience, with measures aimed at preventing long queues and disruptions, while strengthening data integrity and national security within the telecommunications sector.
“The failure in the last SIM card registration has left us with a difficult but necessary decision. After extensive cabinet deliberation, we are announcing the beginning of the process for a new SIM card registration exercise across the whole country.
“This exercise will be the first in our history to have live verification against the NIA’s database and provide biometric verification for every registration. Let me state this up front. The upcoming SIM card registration exercise will prioritize customer’s comfort. We are putting in place measures, working with the Chamber of Telecoms, to avoid long queues, including self-service portals and a seamless process for completing the registration,” he said.
Samuel Nartey George added that the exercise will not be constrained by strict deadlines and assured that all data collected will be fully protected in line with existing data protection regulations.
“You won’t have the queues. You won’t have the deadlines that were unreachable in the past experience. We are going to make sure that the citizen is placed at the front of this registration.
“The regulator, the National Communications Authority is engaging stakeholders on the rollout. The Data Protection Commission must be central to ensuring that even as biometric data is collected and processed, it is done with the principal consideration of protecting the customer. Trust must be elevated above all other considerations,” the minister remarked.
Source: Citi Newsroom
