On May 31, 2023, more than 11 million unregistered SIM cards will be deactivated, according to the National Communications Authority (NCA).
Speaking to the media in Accra, NCA Director General Joe Anokye stated that the Central SIM registration database’s data security for mobile subscribers is unharmed.
According to him, “One of the things to note is that active mass SIM registration for existing SIMs is coming to a close, and as mentioned earlier, we have about 11 million SIMs which are yet to begin the registration process, these subscribers have up to the end of May 2023 to complete their SIM registration or have their SIMs deactivated from the network.”
He cited the violation of regulations by the telecom company MTN, which had been designated as a Significant Market Player.
He stated: “MTN should not charge lower for voice, SMS, and data. MTN should not charge off-net calls. MTN has so far been in compliance with the directive. However, in January 2023, the NCA took notice of the MTN data zone bundle, the 24-hour data bundle for the various data allocations.
“Some market players raised concerns, and NCA engaged MTN and reviewed the product. We realized that the MTN data bundle was the lowest on the market and in violation of the directive. It was directed to discontinue the service.”
Prior to now, all unregistered SIM cards were removed from the telecom companies’ database.
Voice, data (mobile, phones, MIFIS, and other data-providing devices), SMS (incoming and outgoing), USSD, mobile money services, and emergency services are among the services that will be blocked.
According to the SIM registration directives and the procedure, which got under way on October 1, 2021, a total of 25,150,522 million SIM cards had been fully registered as of February 9th, 2023.
Relatively, the National Communications Authority’s (NCA) Joe Anokye has announced that the MTN Zone bundle, which was suspended almost a month ago, will soon be reinstated.
According to Mr. Anokye, this came about after telecom operator MTN submitted a revised data zone bundle that satisfies the legal requirement.
