Govt commences blocking of certain activities on all unregistered sims for 48 hours

This will be done by the blocking of all their outgoing calls and data services for 48 hours (2 days) per week.

In a letter dated September 2, 2022, signed by the Director-General, the NCA reminded the MNOs of the registration exercise which is ending on September 30, 2022.

"Please be informed that the punitive measures which were discussed at the meeting at the NCA on 3rd August, 2022, were compiled and reviewed following your submission. After a comprehensive review and with the approval of the Honourable Minister for Communications, Please find below the punitive measures," the letter stated.

The punitive actions starting this week affect only AirtelTigo, Glo, MTN and Vodafone.

“MNOs [Mobile Network Operators] shall divide the unregistered SIMs into five batches for the purpose of implementing this punitive measure.

“These measures shall exclude blocking of SMS to give defaulting subscribers the opportunity to initiate registration if they so wish. 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,” parts of the letter read.

Director General of the NCA; Joe Anokye ece-auto-gen

This will be done in a sequential batch of numbers on a rotational basis weekly as a second punitive measure.

The first punitive measure includes re-routing of all outgoing calls for a message to be played before all calls go through everyday.

The NCA further asked MNOs to liaise with the Electricity Company of Ghana, Ghana Water and other service providers to ensure that their data-only SIMs are registered duly.

The Director-General also directed the MNOs to configure their systems to facilitate the use of passports for non-resident Ghanaians until December 31, 2022.