As the registration deadline approaches at the end of this month, the Ghanaian government will disable around 10 million Sim cards.
After a year-long nationwide registration effort, the communications authority and industry regulator will cut off data and voice services of unverified cards on October 31, 2022.
Since linking identity cards to Sim cards and completing registration was a lengthy procedure, the communication authority granted a two-month extension in July to allow Ghanaians and non-citizens resident in Ghana to do so.
On October 4th, almost 19 million Sim cards had been fully registered, making up around 45% of the total number of cards.
In order to complete registration and biometric capture with their service providers, Sim card owners in Ghana must first link their Sim to their national card.
The government claims that the purpose of the Sim registration exercise is to safeguard citizens from fraud and guarantee digital safety.