The National Communications Authority has authorized Mobile Network Operators(MNOs) to begin the roll-out of punitive actions against unregistered SIM card users effective September 5, 2022.
The Minister for Communications Ursula Owusu on July 31 said she had reluctantly agreed to extend the registration process till the end of September this year due to several challenges being encountered.
“The program will be extended to 30th September to end with the anniversary of its commencement. That will give one full year of SIM registration,” she stressed.
However, a letter dated September 02, 2022, sighted by Starrfm.com.gh, and issued by the NCA to all the Mobile Network Operators directed as part of the sanctions, a re-routing of outgoing calls for special messages to be played for all unregistered SIM cards from Monday, September 05, 2022.
Also in the interim, the NCA asked that some numbers be blocked for outgoing calls and data services for 48 hours once every week on a rotational basis.
“Subscribers who fully register their SIM Cards within the period they have been blocked will only be unblocked by the MNOs after the 48 hours to avoid the MNOs tampering with their systems intermittently,” the document noted.
The actual blocking of SIM cards is set to begin after September 30.