SIM card registration deadline will not be extended – NCA
The National Communication Authority (NCA), on Friday said it would not extend the deadline for the year-long SIM card registration exercise.
The exercise, which started on July 1 last year, is expected to end on June 30, this year.
Major Emmanuel Owusu-Adansi (Rtd), Director of Special Project, NCA, addressing a press conference, said over 97 per cent subscribers had so far registered and identified with their numbers.
“We have no intention of extending the period although we do not want any subscriber to suffer a loss of his or her number after the June 30 cut-off date,” he said.
Major Owusu-Adansi said the last 12 weeks of the exercise had been earmarked for verification by the NCA in collaboration with such identity cards issuing agencies such as Passport Office, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), National Identification Authority (NIA) and Electoral Commission to authenticate data provided to the registration agents by subscribers.
He explained that telecommunication operators had also been informed of discrepancies unearthed by the verification exercise and instructed to inform subscribers who fell short of the recommended arrangements to correct the anomalies.
Major Owusu-Adansi encouraged the public to register before the deadline to confirm their identification details by texting toll free mobile numbers to short code 400 on all networks for verification.
In a related development the Rural Urban Partnership for Africa (RUPFA), an African Non-Governmental Organization, on Friday urged authorities in the communication industry to adhere to the June 30 deadline for the registration of the Subscriber Identity Modules (SIM) cards.
A press release signed by Mr Isaac Dzidzoamenu, Public Relations Manager for RUPFA and copied to the Ghana News Agency, said a year-long registration exercise was enough for any individual or organization to register the SIM card in any of the networks’ offices.
The statement said the extension of the closing date would create a sense of procrastination in the society, especially when a national exercise of this kind needed to be executed with all the urgency it deserved.
It said the three per cent of subscribers yet to register should not in any way stop the whole nation from achieving the said target of ending the exercise this month.
It said extending the deadline for the SIM registration would place an additional burden on authorities and the communication operators for which they have to invest money, time and other resources for the second round.
Even though the National Communication Authority (NCA) has discovered some deception in the exercise on the authenticity of ID cards that some subscribers have used, the way forward in rectifying the situation has been clearly outlined and need to be followed.
“We are adding our voice to the NCA which announced a toll free line, 400, to be used for all networks for operators to check whether their SIM card was registered or not.”
“RUPFA is by this statement saying that the deadline for the SIM card registration should be adhered to without any extension since this would go a long way to instill a high sense of responsibility not only in the citizenry but also among those at the helm of affairs,” the statement said.
Source: GNA