Don’t charge subscribers for SIM registration – Telecommunication Chamber

The Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications (GCT) has asked subscribers who are asked to pay for subscriber Identification Module(SIM) registration to report the incidences to the nearest police station or to their service providers.

According to the Chamber which represents AirtelTigo, MTN and Vodafone, the ongoing registration exercise was absolutely free and subscribers were not supposed to pay any agent any fee.

“The activity is a national exercise which is being funded by government and the mobile network operators. It is therefore illegal and fraudulent for anybody to ask any customer to pay any amount as the cost of registration.”

“We are cautioning individuals perpetuating this illegal and fraudulent act to desist from it. We also implore the general public to desist from paying or offering payments to the agents,” said a statement issued in Accra yesterday by Kenneth Ashigbey, GCT Chief Executive Officer.

It said the chamber had received information that registration agents of Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) currently registering subscribers were charging some subscribers for the registration of their SIMs.

It said agents caught would not be spared.

“The MNOs remain committed to full transparency and accountability to both the Government of Ghana and its customers, and seeks the support and understanding of its customers to make this exercise a success,” it said.

Initiated by the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation, the SIM card registration exercise aims to secure the country’s cyberspace, monitor and track down persons who procure multiple SIMs for unscrupulous activities.

It is in accordance with the Subscriber Identity Module Registration Regulations, 2011, LI 2006 which mandates network operators or service providers to activate a SIM only after the subscriber registers the SIM as directed by the NCA.