Telco says low Ghana Card issuance major setback in biometric SIM re-registration process

A process in Ghana for users of mobile phones to re-identify their SIM cards with biometrics is proceeding more slowly than hoped as many citizens are said not to be in possession of a Ghana Card, the only ID credential needed for the exercise.

According to MTN, a telecommunications company operating in the country, the re-registration exercise, which started last October, has not been as smooth as expected as many Ghanaians do not have the national digital ID card.

Telcos have been playing an important role in facilitating the SIM re-registration exercise.

Pulse Ghana quotes MTN Ghana CEO Selorm Adadevoh as saying during a recent virtual Stakeholder and Media Forum that the major difficulties faced by his outfit and other MNOs in registering users is lack of thee Ghana Card. He however says MTN and the National Identification Authority (NIA) are partnering to see how to solve the problem by accelerate card issuance.

“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 for those who don’t have the ID cards, especially those in remote areas, so that we can facilitate the process for them,” said Adadevoh during the virtual meeting as quoted by Pulse quotes.

The ongoing biometrics SIM re-registration is expected to end on July 31 2022, after the government extended the initial deadline of March 31.

Apart from the lack of digital ID cards by some, there have also been numerous complaints, since the process started, about difficulties faced by Ghanaians in re-registering their SIM cards.

There have been agitations in the past about overcrowding at biometric capture centers, which leads to people spending long hours on queues. Authorities had however promised to address the complaints in order to make the process smoother.

Article Topics

Africa  |  biometrics  |  digital ID  |  Ghana  |  Ghana Card  |  identity document  |  national ID  |  National Identification Authority (NIA)  |  SIM card registration