By Fred Sarpong
Many Ghanaians are now getting to know the importance of the SIM card registration announced by the National Communications Authority (NCA) last year.
Figures available from NCA indicates that about 15.3 million Ghanaian mobile phone users have registered their SIM cards as at the end of last month, representing 90% of the total of 17.34 million mobile phone users in the country as at last year December.
Without registering the SIM card it will not be active from July, this year as the law requires every mobile phone user to do so.
John Benyarku Essuman, the Deputy Consumer and Corporate Affairs Manager at the NCA, has said that it will be impossible to use a new unregistered SIM card in the country.
He told Business Week that the SIM card registration exercise is basically on because the time has come for Ghana to do away with anonymity of SIM card users.
He stressed that there is the need for mobile phone users to embrace the new order since it came with numerous advantages. People will no longer be able to easily threaten others or use their lines for illegal activities as well as the security agencies to better protect mobile phone users in the country.
Essuman said under the requirements for Mobile Telephony Companies to operate, they needed to maintain some records on subscribers, noting that in the heat of competition the companies shirked that responsibility.
Despite the concerns people expressed about the exercise, the fact that over 15 million of mobile phone subscribers had registered showed that they had accepted the new order and this was encouraging.
Business Week learnt that soon a short code for verification of registration will be provided to help subscribers.
Many Ghanaians are now getting to know the importance of the SIM card registration announced by the National Communications Authority (NCA) last year.
Figures available from NCA indicates that about 15.3 million Ghanaian mobile phone users have registered their SIM cards as at the end of last month, representing 90% of the total of 17.34 million mobile phone users in the country as at last year December.
Without registering the SIM card it will not be active from July, this year as the law requires every mobile phone user to do so.
John Benyarku Essuman, the Deputy Consumer and Corporate Affairs Manager at the NCA, has said that it will be impossible to use a new unregistered SIM card in the country.
He told Business Week that the SIM card registration exercise is basically on because the time has come for Ghana to do away with anonymity of SIM card users.
He stressed that there is the need for mobile phone users to embrace the new order since it came with numerous advantages. People will no longer be able to easily threaten others or use their lines for illegal activities as well as the security agencies to better protect mobile phone users in the country.
Essuman said under the requirements for Mobile Telephony Companies to operate, they needed to maintain some records on subscribers, noting that in the heat of competition the companies shirked that responsibility.
Despite the concerns people expressed about the exercise, the fact that over 15 million of mobile phone subscribers had registered showed that they had accepted the new order and this was encouraging.
Business Week learnt that soon a short code for verification of registration will be provided to help subscribers.
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