NCA forensic audit to weed out fraudulent SIM registration "6.17m cards deactivated, 11.1m more to go"

The National Communications Authority (NCA) will conduct regular forensic audits of the systems of Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to ensure that all Subscriber Identification (SIM) cards, which have been de-linked from their database for noncompliance with the SIM registration process, are not fraudulently restored.

The move is, among other things, intended to fully protect the sanctity of the Single Central SIM Register in line with the government’s objectives of building trust in the country’s digital ecosystem.

So far, 6.17 million SIM cards that were not registered with the Ghana card, since the inception of the mass SIM registration exercise, had been successfully deactivated with some 11.1 million more active but unregistered SIMs yet to be de-linked by the end of next month.

The Director General of the NCA, Joe Anokye, who made these known at a news conference in Accra yesterday, said the deactivated SIMs belonged to the group of subscribers who had completed only stage one of the two-stage registration process.

In attendance at the news conference was the Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah.

Connivance

There have been reports that some unscrupulous individuals, with the connivance of some officials of the MNOs, are finding fraudulent means to register SIMs without allowing the owners to go through the approved laid down processes.

But in his response to a Daily Graphic question about the issue and what could be done to prevent the practice, the NCA boss gave an assurance that “through the forensic audits, we will know the true situation and those MNOs found to be culprits will be made to face the full rigours of the law”.

Mr Anokye said the number of deactivated SIMs was expected to rise as MNOs reconciled their central database by the end of the month.

“One of the things to note is that active mass registration for existing SIMs is coming to a close.

We have about 11 million SIMs as earlier indicated, which are yet to begin the registration process, and these subscribers have up to the end of May 2023 to complete their SIM registration or have their SIMs deactivated from the network,“ he said.

Giving further clarity on the 11 million active but unregistered SIMs, Mr Anokye explained that the only SIMs that would be exempted from the impending mass deactivation exercise would be SIMs of Ghanaians on national duties abroad, foreign diplomats in the country and refugees. 

No Ghana cards

Concerns are still rife about those who are yet to receive their Ghana cards and, therefore, are in no position to register their SIMs according to the laid down processes.

But, Mr Anokye gave an assurance that those category of persons would be sorted out.

He said subscribers, who did not have a Ghana card, would only have to prove that to prevent their SIMs from being deactivated.

He added that only new SIM cards would be registered from June 1 this year, by which time all old SIMs, which are active but unregistered, would be deactivated. 

Central SIM register

So far, the NCA has registered about 25 million SIM cards that are tied to some 13 million unique Ghana cards.

Mr Anokye said the NCA had successfully put together a single central SIM register as mandated by the Executive Instrument 63, 2020, which contained all the 25 million registered SIMs.

With the single central SIM register in place, he said the country now had a traceable SIM database with integrity.

Registration of SIM, he said, was an intervention that would help build trust in digital ecosystems.

“As we continuously increase the use of digital technologies in all aspects of our daily lives, the critical role of the SIM registration exercise cannot be overlooked.

“As a matter of fact, Ghana's Digital Transformation Agenda is anchored in part on a credible SIM register and a competitive telecommunications industry,” he said. 

Secure SIM database

Mr Anokye assured the public that the SIM database was secured and could not be breached.

“We wish to assure the general public that the SIM database has not been breached.

In the first place, there has been no unauthorised access to the SIM Registration database.

“The identified abuses of stage one process, which have been resolved, do not amount to unauthorised access to the SIM registration database,” he explained. 

Verification

Beyond the assurance, the NCA Director General said the mobile service providers had been mandated to introduce a system to give subscribers the opportunity to check the number and details of SIMs registered to their respective Ghana cards.

Mr Anokye added that the service providers would on May 1, deploy a short code that would allow subscribers of telecom services to check which numbers were linked to their Ghana card.

The short code, *402*1# could be used across all networks.