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02.04.2015 Business & Finance

Telcos To Re-Register SIM Cards

By Daily Guide
Telcos To Re-Register SIM Cards
02.04.2015 LISTEN

After spending resources to register SIM cards, telecommunications companies are to undertake the exercise again. The re-registration has become necessary due to the ineffectiveness of the previous exercise, said a Deputy Communication Minister, Ato Sarpong.

The Deputy Minister, who added that the current system has made identity authentication difficult.

'Some time back, we (NCA) got almost all consumers to register their SIM cards. We have come to the conclusion that there were gaps in that exercise, because we do not have harmonised or one common ID card to use for the registration.

'As a result of that, we've identified a lot of flaws within the telecommunication area because we're not able to identify people as we should.'

Mr. Sarpong was speaking at a consumer forum organized by the National Communications Authority (NCA) in Ho recently.

The forum, which gave subscribers of the various mobile networks the opportunity to interact with service providers, was followed by the inauguration of the Volta Regional office of the National Communication Authority (NCA) in Ho.

Representatives of the mobile telephony service providers at the forum said they exhausted their resources to undertake the exercise.

However, they expressed the hope that the new system would be relevant and useful.

No National ID Card, No Registration

Despite the urgent need for the re-registration, the Deputy Minister noted that the exercise cannot happen if the National Identification Authority (NIA) does not issue national identification cards to all citizens by the end of the year as expected.

'We are expecting that when the National Identification Authority is done with the issuance of national I.D cards, the process for the registration of SIM cards will be redone,' Mr Sarpong said.

Parliament in 2012 adopted the Subscriber Identity Module Registration Regulations, 2011 (L.I. 2006) to give backing to SIM card registration in the country.

The Legislation provided that from 2012, no SIM card could be used without registration.

Interconnect Clearing House
Mr. Sarpong gave the assurance that the contentious interconnect clearing house programme was on course and that government was in consultation with stakeholders, particularly the telecom operators for a smooth rollout.

This initiative, he said, is expected to address SIMBox fraud and enhance government revenue.

Digital Migration
He also noted that government, through the NCA, was in the process of engaging a company that would develop the Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) transmission platform to facilitate the migration in the country.

The migration would be done in phases, he said.
Greater Accra and Ashanti regions are expected to be migrated by July 31 while Volta, Upper East and West regions would be migrated by the end of October, with the remaining regions expected to be migrated by the end of January, 2016.

The Director-General of NCA, Paa rock Van Percy noted that communications industry was sturdily growing.

Currently, there are more than 31 million mobile phone subscribers nationwide.

He revealed that the NCA was poised to open offices in all regional capitals to bring its services closer to consumers.


From Fred Duodu, Ho
[email protected]

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