SIM re-registration: Inability to access Ghana card problem for our customers - MTN

This was revealed by Chief Executive Officer of MTN Ghana, Selorm Adadevoh, on Monday, June 20, 2022, while addressing journalists and stakeholders at this year’s MTN Stakeholder and Media Forum virtually.

According to the MTN CEO, with just five weeks to the end of the SIM card re-registration, the challenge faced by both telcos and customers is unavailability of of the Ghana card.

He however, opined that his outfit is partnering government or the National Identification Authority (NIA) to help bridge the gap that has arisen in the issuing of the Ghana cards.

“There’s the challenge with how many of our customers have the National ID card. And that’s an area we’re looking at; how we can support the NIA to make sure customers can get the cards to do the registration. We’re doing some partnerships with the NIA so that those who don’t have the ID cards, especially those in remote areas, to help them get the card so we can facilitate the process for them.”

The ongoing process for phone users to re-register their SIM cards using biometrics has continued to revive concerns bedeviling Ghanaians in the process.

It appears the main concern is about delays in the issuance of the Ghana Card which is the sole ID document needed to get through the exercise.

The biometric SIM re-registration started in October 2021 and is expected to end on July 31 after a postponement from the earlier date of March 31.

Another challenge the MTN CEO touched on during his presentation was on fibre cuts.

Mr. Adadevoh noted that one of MTN’s biggest challenges was having to deal with fibre cuts.

He said the company experienced a total of 939 fibre cuts in the first five months of 2022, compared to 819 same period in 2021.

According to the CEO, the main culprits in the fibre cuts are road contractors and private developers, adding that such cuts affected at least 11% of traffic on MTN over the period.