Ghana’s National Communications Authority (NCA) has announced a set of punitive measures designed to encourage mobile subscribers to complete the SIM registration campaign that began last November. Since 5 September, all four MNOs – AirtelTigo, Glo Mobile, MTN and Vodafone – are required to block outgoing calls and data services for a sequential batch of unregistered and partially registered numbers for 48 hours every week on rotational basis. In addition, subscribers who have not begun their registration will hear an automated campaign awareness message before their outgoing calls are connected.
According to the directive, all mobile and data-only SIM cards which remain unregistered or partially registered after 30 September will be completely blocked and the holders will lose all services. However, these customers will then have another six months to complete the registration process, following which the numbers will be churned.
Meanwhile, the telcos have been asked to configure their networks to allow Ghanaians living abroad to register their SIM cards using their passports instead of the Ghana Card until 31 December 2022, when they will also be required to regularise their registrations with the new ID card or suffer punitive measures. Customers who have completed stage one (linking their Ghana Card with their SIM) are encouraged to finalise the process by providing the necessary biometric data using the NCA’s new self-registration app.