Telecoms chamber ready to engage on SIM card re-registration

Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications says it is ready to engage the Ministry of Communications, Digital Technology, and Innovation, on how the intended re-registration of SIM cards in the country will be carried out after the first two attempts failed to meet the required expectations.

Generally, mandatory SIM Registration is a policy adopted by several governments around the world as part of efforts to mitigate security concerns, address crime and  enable the application of digital services. 

SIM Registration also allow the service providers to know the identity of the owner of a SIM card and that of a person making a call or sending a message.

As a condition for the purchase or activation of a SIM card, the user will be required to provide personal data, such as residential address, as well as a valid identification document (ID), a point of contention that has some members of the public rightfully questioning the safety and security of their privacy.

In view of the broader benefits, the chamber says it is also ready to make proposals during the engagements to ensure that the exercise cuts across the entire ecosystem to include banks and other financial and non-financial institutions to ensure greater efficiency at the end of the exercise.

“We want all those players in the ecosystem who use the Ghana Card to also be able to detect fraud when it arises so that in the end, that objective of detecting fraud does not only rest on the telcos but all players.

That, we believe is a sure to way to create more value for the SIM registration and bring improved meaning to it,” The Chief Executive Officer of the chamber, Dr Kenneth Ashigbey, told the Graphic Business in an interview.

He was reacting to a comment passed by Minister of Communication, Digital Technology, and Innovation, Sam Nartey George, during his vetting in Parliament a couple of weeks ago.

His premise was to implement a new SIM card registration process to address what he described as issues encountered during the previous exercise.

Previous attempts

Should the exercise be carried out, it will be the third time such an exercise is being conducted in the country.

Under the Atta-Mills administration with Haruna Iddrisu as the Minister of Communications, the first of such exercises was undertaken.

About three years ago in 2022, the previous government conducted a SIM card re-registration, which required cardholders to visit various Mobile Network Operators (MNOs’) offices to link their SIM cards with their Ghana Cards. Failure to comply led to SIM card blockages or the withdrawal of essential services.

Justifying his intentions, Mr George criticised the previous government’s approach, particularly the long queues and inefficiencies faced by Ghanaians during the registration process.

He assured the committee that, under his leadership, the new SIM registration exercise would be more efficient and streamlined, leveraging technology to cross-reference data with the National Identification Authority (NIA) database. 

This approach would eliminate the need for long queues and simplify the process for Ghanaians.

Unlike the previous exercise where SIM card holders were taken through a harrowing experience of having to queue to register, the sector minister is of the strong conviction that, with the new SIM re-registration exercise nobody is going to queue. 

Mr George was confident that the MNOs hold a certain set of dates adding that there will be heavy reliance on technology to cross-reference that against the National Identification Authority (NIA’s) database and all biometric databases and only instances where there is a disparity would require one to visit an MNO shop.

Mixed reaction

The proposed exercise has been received with mixed reaction from a section of the public.

While some perceive the exercise as needless and a waste of time, others believe the re-registration will smoothen the rough edges to make it more useful.

One industry expert who wants to remain anonymous said the new approach, albeit without details, is a welcome development which must be carried out because it will be 
stress free.

He maintained that in the first previous exercise, it was improper to subject Ghanaians to long hours in a queue, taking away productive man hours and affecting an ailing economy.

He expressed the hope that, this time around the exercise will be conducted without any queues because technology will be fully leveraged to make it effective. 

Way forward

Some experts advice that, there is the need for government to involve all players in the entire ecosystem (telcos, financial and non-financial institutions) to ensure that, in the end, the country will have the best of results.

According to them, there are case studies all over the world which Ghana can study and use as a leverage to ensure that, there will be no need to go back to redo what already exists to subject subscribers to another round of discomfort.