The Ministry of Communications and Digitalization has extended the deadline for the re-registration of subscriber identification module (SIM) cards to 30th September 2022.
The Minister of Communications, Ursula Owusu disclosed this during a press briefing held on Sunday, July 31, 2022.
“The programme will be extended to 30 September to end the anniversary of its commencement which will give us a full year. Any sim that has not been registered by end of August will be barred from receiving services.,” the Minister told the press.
The government had initially set July 31 as the deadline for all persons to re-register their SIM cards with their Ghana Cards
“Non-resident Ghanaians who do not have the Ghana card can use their passports to complete the process but will be required to update their details with the Ghana card once they acquire it. They have up till December 2022 to do so. I urge them to comply with these directives and to contact the NCA if they have any peculiar challenges.
The SIM Registration App will be available for download on both android and IOS this week barring any unforeseen circumstances. Each registration via the app will be subject to a 5 cedi surcharge.
The Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) Registrations commenced registration barely a week ago and have only been able to register just about 2% of their subscribers as at Friday 29th July.
Many data only SIMS have also not been registered and my information is that their owners were not aware they also needed to be registered.” She added
According to her, the extension is due to several factors including the fact that many citizens and residents are yet to obtain their Ghana cards to enable them to register their SIM cards.
She noted that the NIA has not been able to issue all eligible persons with the Ghana Card.
As at Thursday July 21, 2022, 16,969,034 individuals have registered for the Ghana Card, with about 16,535,623 cards printed. 15,702,719 cards have been issued whereas some 832,904 cards have not been distributed or collected.
She further commended all Ghanaians and foreign residents in Ghana for their support in ensuring that through this exercise.
“We develop and build a credible SIM database with integrity, which will help address issues of cyber fraud and promotes secure SIM card-based transaction as part of an effort to digitally transform the economy.” She added
Self-Service SIM Registration App
The Self-Service SIM Registration App will be ready for commercial launch on Tuesday 2nd August as Virtual Private Network (VPN) connectivity and Application Programming Interface (API) integration with all MNOs was only completed this weekend due to unavoidable circumstances.
Adequate time will also be required for publicity and public education on the use of the Self-Service SIM Registration App.
