Data from the National Communications Authority (NCA) indicate that about 17 million mobile phone subscribers have so far registered their SIM cards since the registration begun in September 2021.
This is less than half of the about 42 million subscribers.
According to Director of Consumer and Corporate Affairs, Nana Nana Defie Badu, her outfit does not expect all the 42 million subscribers to register their SIM cards since some of them are cards used by fraudsters.
“It is difficult to say we are expecting 42 million SIM cards to be totally registered by the end of the registration process. These 42 million active SIM cards we see on our network also include SIMs being used by the fraudsters.
“So, we do not expect to see those SIMs registered. It is also possible for people who use multi-SIMs to decide not to register a whole number of SIMs given that every individual has a quota of 10 SIMs to register”, she explained.
She further said “we do not expect to see all 42 million SIMs being registered by September 30th 2022.
With about 14 days more to the end of the SIM Card registration, Nana Defie Badu, entreated subscribers to get registered before their SIM cards are blocked.
Punitive action
The NCA, beginning Monday, September 5, 2022 rolled out punitive actions against unregistered SIM card users.
According to a statement signed by the Authority’s Director-General, outgoing calls and data services for a sequential batch of numbers will be blocked for two days weekly on a rotational basis.
