NCA to sanction operators after deadline of SIM registration
Accra , Feb. 28, GNA - The National Communications Authority (NCA) has warned that mobile network operators which fail to ensure the valid registration of all active SIM cards on their networks before the March 3 deadline would be sanctioned.
The telecom regulator said it would not hesitate to employ the Authority's penalty regime as specified by the Electronic Communications Act and the SIM Registration L.I. 2006, if network operators tried to shield subscribers who failed to comply with the directive within the stipulated registration time.
Mr John Essamuah, a Deputy Manager at the NCA, told the Ghana News Agency in an interview that the operators should not “fail again” in the execution of their duties per their license conditions.
“The NCA does not own SIM cards neither do the Authority keep data of subscribers, so the operators must ensure that they do not fail again in the execution of their duties per their license condition,” he said.
In July 2010, the NCA issued a directive to telecom operators to register all SIM Cards in the country. The directive that re-enforced the business license condition of the operators required the identification of every subscriber on their networks.
According to Mr Essamuah, at the end of the June 30 deadline in 2011, the Authority discovered from the data submitted by the operators that of the total of 20 million SIM cards registered, about 40% of that number was wrought with irregularities because the agents of the operators who collected the data overlooked the legally mandated requirements.
He said although the law prescribed various forms of identification including, a valid passport, driver's license, voters' identity card, national health Insurance Authority card or the National Identification Authority card, to be used for the exercise, the operators failed to monitor their agents in the collection of data.
The Deputy NCA Manager said the Authority thus had to give a 90-day grace period to sanitize the data collected, since part of the objective of the exercise was to create a credible data base for the country.
He noted that if the network operators had taken the exercise more seriously in 2011 when it commenced, the data of SIM Card registration would have been the largest credible data base of citizens and residents in the country.
Ghana's Parliament on February 1, 2012, adopted the Legislative Instrument on the SIM Registration (L.I. 2006) which seeks to give stronger endorsement and legal backing to the exercise initiated by the Authority.
The Legislative Instrument (L.I. 2006) instructs network operators to ensure, while doing due diligence, that by March 3, 2012, every active SIM Card in the country is validly registered and that the registration process is considered complete.
All other unregistered SIM Cards, as well other devices like modems that use SIM cards, would be de-activated by deadline.
Mr Essamuah said to ensure that all subscribers were properly registered; the Authority had issued a toll-free short code number 400 to all networks, where subscribers who send a blank text message to that code, receive a registration status of their SIM by an operator.
He said subscribers were free from de-activation on the deadline if their network operator responded positively to the validity of their SIM registration through the short code messaging, adding “anything short of that will require the subscriber to use the approved identification to re-register and insist on validation”.
Mr Essamuah heads an NCA team that is currently undertaking a nation-wide public education campaign on the introduction and implications of the passage of the SIM Registration L.I. 2006.
The team has taken the campaign to Winneba, Cape Coast, Swedru, Assin Fosu, Dunkwa-on-Offin, in the Central region and Takoradi, Axim, Tarkwa, Enchi, Asankragua, Sefwi Wiaso and Elubo in the Western Region.