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BREAKING: Telcos begin blocking unregistered SIM cards

The Chamber of Telecommunications said that its members (AirtelTigo, MTN, and Vodafone) have started blocking and turning off SIM cards that haven’t been registered with the Ghana Card.

In a statement from November 22, the Chamber said that the decision to block SIM cards that haven’t been registered came after a November 11 order from the Communications and Digitalization Ministry.

“Since November 20, 2022, our members have blocked data services for all subscribers who have only finished stage 1 (linkage to Ghana Card) of the SIM registration process but not stage 2 (biometric capture),” the statement said.

It asked all subscribers who have Ghana cards but haven’t finished stage 2 (biometric capture) to do so by November 30, 2022.

According to the statement, all subscriber SIMs that haven’t gone through the biometric capture registration step by November 30 will be completely turned off by the Telcos.

It told people who need extra help to register their SIM cards to get in touch with the National Communications Authority or their mobile network operator.

“We are confident that the sector Ministry and NCA will announce ways to help people who really don’t have Ghana cards once ongoing talks are done,” the statement said.

On November 11, the Communications and Digitalization Ministry said that SIM cards that have been linked to Ghana Cards but haven’t gone through the second phase of registration won’t be able to use data services after November 20 and will be turned off completely by November 30.

As of November 9, the Ministry said that about 30 million SIM cards were linked to Ghana Cards and that 20.9 million subscribers had finished the registration process by having their biometric data captured.

The Minister of the Sector said that steps will be taken to help people who don’t have Ghana Cards register their SIM cards.

This is the second time subscribers’ SIM cards will be turned off for not being linked to their Ghana Cards.

Some SIM cards were turned off on September 30, because they could not be registered before the deadline.

After that, these subscribers were able to use their phones again because the Communications Minister extended the deadline for registering SIM cards.