The Minister for Communications, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has refuted claims that unregistered mobile subscribers who do not have Ghana Cards have been blocked for failure to re-register their SIM cards.

The Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications issued a statement to inform the public that starting from the close of 30 November 2022, its members, “AirtelTigo, MTN and Vodafone” will “begin deactivating some category of SIM cards in compliance with the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation's directive issued on November 11, 2022.”

The statement, which was released on Wednesday, 30 November 2022, stressed that “only subscribers that have completed stage 1 (linkage to Ghana card) but are yet to complete stage 2 (biometric capture) of the SIM registration, will have their SIM cards blocked.”  

Telecommunication Networks, therefore, began deactivating SIM cards which were not duly registered.

Mobile subscribers without Ghana Cards which makes it impossible for them to register their SIM cards have also been reported to have had their SIM cards deactivated.

The Communications Minister, however, told Parliament on Monday, 5 December 2022, that the SIM cards of persons without Ghana Cards have not been deactivated contrary to reports.

“People who do not have Ghana Cards have had their cards blocked, and I said no, that has not happened. 

“It is those who have completed the first phase of the exercise by linking their cards to the SIM cards but had not gone on to do the biometric capture that has had their SIM cards blocked,” the Minister stated.

Meanwhile, barely five days after the National Communications Authority (NCA) directed the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to block the SIM cards of subscribers who have not completed the exercise to link their Ghana Cards to their SIM cards, crowds are beginning to gather at the various offices of the MNOs.

A crowd of subscribers as of 6:00 AM on Monday, December 5, 2022, were seen gathering at the Dansoman MTN branch in the Ablekuma West municipality of the Greater Accra Region.

The situation was not different at the Darkuman branch of the MTN as scores of the subscribers believed to be part of the 'stubborn academy' were seen queuing in front of the office when the office had not opened for business.

At the AirtelTigo office on Oxford Street Osu R.E in the Klottey Korley municipality of the Greater Accra Region, it was same.