Unregistered SIMs cannot receive calls after August - Communications Minister

The Minister for Communications and Digitalisation, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, on Sunday announced a number of punitive measures against persons who will fail to register their SIM cards by end of August.

According to the minister, the measures are compelling factors which include being barred from receiving calls and data services.

“Any SIM that has not been fully registered by the end of

Read full article.August will be barred from fully receiving certain services including voice and data services. It will also be more expensive to use unregistered SIMs,” she stated.

The government official added that a full range of punitive measures will be announced at the end of September following a holistic review of the SIM re-registration exercise.

The minister made the disclosure at a press conference on Sunday where she announced an extension to the July 31 deadline of the SIM registration exercise.

“Upon consultation with the industry and in view of the challenges enumerated above, I have very reluctantly decided to grant a final conditional extension. The pogramme will be extended to 30th September to end on the anniversary of its commencement,” she said.

According to her, she reluctantly made the decision due to various challenges including the difficulty faced by some citizens in acquiring a Ghana Card which is the mandatory document for the exercise.

The SIM registration exercise, which among other things aims at fighting fraud, commenced in August 2021 and was initially scheduled to end on March 31, 2022.

Government however announced a four-month extension to the exercise and scheduled the registration to end on July 31, 2022.

Ahead of the deadline, various calls were made for another extension which the minister has heeded.

GA/BBA