Telecommunications firms in Ghana have deleted almost 9 million unregistered SIM cards.
This complies with a National Communications Authority (NCA) directive.
Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, the minister of communications, said that the reregistration of all mobile SIM cards will begin on October 1, 2021.
Due to difficulties faced by SIM card users, the exercise was repeatedly extended from the initial six-month projection.
However, the last deadline expired yesterday, May 31.
However, customers can re-register their SIM cards even if they won’t have access to features like phone calls, according to Dr. Ken Ashigbey, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications, in an interview with Accra-based Citi News.
“Those who have not fully registered their SIM cards will be blocked and as we speak, the numbers of those that will be blocked are about 9 million and then if you consider those on mobile money that will be blocked, they are about 7.4 million, and they will not have access to their mobile money. So on the GSM side, you will not be able to make a call, you will not be able to receive a call, send a text, and also not be able to use data services.”
He added that the 7.4 million subscribers will not have access to their accounts for failing to register their SIMs. He however assured that monies on SIM cards will be safeguarded by the network operators.
“For the 7.4 million subscribers who have over GH¢200 million on their wallets, when they are barred, they will get the opportunity if they register, they will get their numbers back to have access to their monies and historical records back.”
