The Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation has announced that SIM cards that are not fully registered would be blocked from accessing data services on November 20, and completely deactivated on Wednesday, November 30, 2022.

According to the sector Minister, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful SIM cards that have been linked to Ghana Cards but have not undergone the second phase of registration would be affected.

She said a key reason why some people who have linked their phone numbers to the Ghana Cards have been unable to complete the bio capture of stage two is because they used other people’s cards for the exercise.

“This includes vendors who used the cards of others without the knowledge or consent of the card owners,” she said. Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful indicated that their inability to complete phase two attests to the robustness of the authentication process designed into the SIM registration architecture.

“It will flush out all fakes. You cannot use someone else’s Ghana Card to register your SIM,” the Minister outlined.

She announced this in a statement issued on Friday, November 11. Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful said consultations are ongoing on measures to accommodate persons who do not have Ghana Cards to register their SIM cards.

Currently, a total of 30,011,082 SIM cards have been linked to Ghana Cards, thereby completing the first phase of the registration process. As of November 9, 20,892,970 subscribers had completed both the linkage and capture of their biometric data.

Ursula Owusu-Ekuful asked subscribers facing challenges in registering their SIM cards to contact the National Communications Authority (NCA) or their respective network operators for necessary assistance.

According to her, the priority of the Communications Ministry is to ensure digital inclusion and to provide a secure environment for Ghanaians to access digital services.

“The Ministry has been working tirelessly on the development and implementation of policies to this effect. We can all attest to the fact that there has been a noticeable decline in SIM-related fraud since the commencement of the registration exercise,” she added.

“Despite the ample opportunity afforded all to complete the registration of their SIM cards, some who have the Ghana Cards and have begun the process have failed to complete the registration. That is their choice and we cannot begrudge them,” the minister added.