NCA provides more centres for SIM registration
The National Communication Authority (NCA) has provided additional registration points to address concerns of delay in completing the second stage of the SIM card registration.
A statement by the Authority, said as a result of the challenges, “the NCA has been working assiduously with Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and the SIM Card registration application developer to improve the registration process and mitigate the current challenges.”
It said the Authority was, therefore, deploying additional registration points to match the subscriber numbers of each MNO to ease the congestion.
In that regard, it said, “outlets such as distributor shops, retail centres and other agent touch points across the country are being used for the SIM registration exercise.”
The statement, therefore, urged customers to patronise those other outlets to complete the second stage of the registration process.
Over the week, some customers of Mobile Network Operators expressed frustration over delays at some registration centres and appealed to Government to extend the deadline of March 31.
They said the deadline for the registration was untenable in view of the long queues that had characterised the registration centres and the issues of Ghana Card acquisition.
As part of the measures to resolve the challenges, the NCA, said the deployment of various “ad-hoc” registration points” at various public areas, including lorry parks, churches, mosques to ease the congestion at the customer care centres would be utilised.
“Announcements would be made in communities wherever such ad-hoc registration points are established,” it added.
The statement, said the Authority would also create additional temporary locations at various Government or State-Owned Enterprise facilities, including NAC Regional Offices, Community ICT Centres established by the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC), and Post Offices.
One of the measures being undertaken, the statement noted, would be the development and implementation of a daily quota and ticketing system for SIM registration bio capture at the customer care centres.
“MNOs will develop systems to schedule customers who have completed the first phase to visit particular centres by a given date or window for the second phase of the registration,” it said.
The NCA encouraged the public to be patient as those measures were rapidly implemented, and further advised customers to “complete stage one of the registration processes, i.e., linking the Ghana Card with the SIM card by dialing #404* before visiting the MNO Customer Care Centre or agent.
That, it said, would further reduce the time spent at the Customer Care Centres of the MNOs. “The Ministry of Communication and Digitisation (MoCD) and the NCA are working collaboratively with the MNOs to ensure that the SIM registration process is enhanced to make it fast, secure, safe and convenient for customers,” it concluded.
The re-registration exercise, which commenced on October 1, 2021, in accordance with the Subscriber Identity Module Registration Regulations, 2011, LI 2006 is to, among other objectives, curb SIM boxing and other criminal activities.