Second SIM Re-registration set for June

The second re-registration of SIM cards using only Ghana Card details and customer data available at the various telcos is set for June this year.

The upcoming is expected to be queue-free, thanks to a streamlined process designed to make registration more efficient and convenient for citizens.

The Minister for Communication, Samuel Nartey George, announced this during his visit to Margins ID Group (Intelligent Card Production Systems) in Accra on Tuesday.

According to the Minister, citizens will register their SIM cards online, reducing the need for physical visits to registration centres. The system will automatically verify citizens’ information, reducing manual processing times.

 

This streamlined process will save citizens time and improve accuracy, making the registration experience more convenient.

He said, with the June launch approaching, citizens can look forward to a hassle-free SIM card registration experience.

Background of SIM Card Re-registration

The first SIM card re-registration exercise was in 2011, where several unverifiable ID systems such as Voter ID, SSNIT Card, Passports, NHIS, and even student and staff IDs were used to register SIMs.

That process became a fiasco because none of the IDs used at the time could be verified and there was no restriction on how many SIM cards could be linked to one ID card.

As a result, telcos and their agents pre-registered millions of SIM cards using fake and unverifiable IDs and sold them at prime rates to persons who were not interested in registering SIM cards with their own IDs.

This situation allowed fraudsters to obtain SIM card bearing the IDs of innocent people, but law enforcement also found it difficult to trace such fraudsters or even the person’s whose names were used for the cards.

That whole wasteful process cost telcos over US$25 million but it did not achieve any purpose.

In 2021, the previous government began another process, using the verifiable Ghana Card as the only ID for SIM registration. The government introduced another layer into the process – an app that captured fresh biodata of SIM holders, even though all the needed biodata was available on the Ghana Card already.

The introduction of the app caused very long queues on the scotching sun at various registration centres. The government had to extended the deadline several times due to low registration rates.

The process also cost telcos up to GHS5 per every single SIM registered, but it does not seem to have yielded the intended dividends, because, as of today, there are several active SIM cards being used for fraud, registered in the names of unidentifiable persons.

Beside the failure of the process to stem mobile money fraud as promised by the government, some Ghanaians also raised concerns about data security and the potential for fraudulent registrations via the mobile app.

Indeed, there were instances where the app was used to capture the data of persons who were absent from the location where the data was captured; even though the managers of the process assured Ghanaians that, that was not possible.

In the midst of the challenges, the industry regulator, National Communications Authority (NCA), which partnered a private entity for that app used in capturing biodata, said they were under no obligation to verify any data with the Ghana Card data base

In the end, Ghana was bequeathed another SIM register that has till date failed to deliver on one of its key purposes – to stem mobile money fraud. Several active SIM cards are today being used by fraudsters to commit mobile money fraud.

Indeed, figures from Bank of Ghana indicate that between 2022 and 2024, fraud within the digital finance space, through the use of SIM cards has been growing, while the stakeholders charged with the duty of stemming that fraud are at their wits end, all because the systems built to track and stem those fraud types are simply inefficient.

Government’s Objective

With this new re-registration exercise therefore, this new government seeks to ensure accurate data on valid SIMs for better industry regulation, with the hope that it will reduce fraudulent activities and crimes facilitated through unregistered SIM cards, an objective on which the two previous exercises have so far failed to deliver.

Source: techfocus24.com