The Minister for Communications in Ghana, Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, has put out a public statement in which she stated that all SIM cards in Ghana which have not been fully registered will be blocked from the end of October 2022.
All SIM Cards that have been linked to Ghana Cards (i.e. completed Stage 1
registration), but have not completed their Stage 2 registration will be blocked
from the end of October.
The Minister clarified that all data-only SIMs including those issued by Surfline, Busy Internet, Telesol, and any institution such as ECG, have up to the end of November to complete registration.
Selling Pre-Registered SIM Cards Is An Offense
In her statement, the Minister stated that vendors who sold pre-registered SIM cards will be arrested and jailed for up to 5 years. The National Communications Authority (NCA) will conduct mystery shopping and individuals and sellers caught would be arrested.
No Registration of More Than 10 SIM Cards
Individuals who have registered more tha 10 SIM cards will have their data “cleaned” from the registry system and blocked. The Minister stated that persons who have more than 10 SIM cards registered in their name should immediately delink their excess SIMs.
18 Million SIM Cards Have Been Fully Registered
According to data from the Ministry of Communications, a total of 18,930,664 SIM Cards have been fully registered (Completed both Stages
1 and 2) – representing 44.28% of the total SIM cards issued.
28,959,006 SIM Cards have been linked to Ghana Cards (Stage 1
registration); representing 67.28% of the 42,749,662 total SIM cards issued
nationally.
13,720,687 unique Counts of Ghana Cards have been used so far for the
registration exercise
