Register all merchant SIM cards by June ending or have them permanently blocked – Minister

Merchants have up until June 30, 2023, to register their SIM cards or have them permanently blocked.

The Ministry of Communications has disclosed that almost 280,000 merchant SIMs have not been registered, offering fraudsters an opportunity to use them in perpetuating their activities.

The sector minister, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, appearing before Parliament on Thursday, June 8, 2023, said all unregistered merchant SIMs will be blocked permanently at the end of June 2023.

She was in the house to provide an update on the sim re-registration exercise.

“I have also been informed that almost 280,000 merchant SIMs have not been registered. A viral video doing the rounds on social media a few weeks ago indicated that some criminal networks have actually acquired merchant SIMs to facilitate fraudulent activities. Let me reiterate once again, that all unregistered merchant SIMs will be blocked permanently at the end of June 2023,” she said.

Meanwhile, the minister has announced that subscribers who were unable to complete the second stage of the registration process should contact the NCA to have their SIMs registered.

“I will urge victims of illegal acts to notify the National Communications Authority (NCA) and action will be taken to deter this process. I have also heard complaints that though they had registered their SIMs, those SIMs were blocked. My information is that several of these complaints are people who didn’t complete the second stage of the process as required. Such people should contact the NCA to have their SIMs registered and owners of the SIMs will get their numbers back after duly registration."

“They must act timeously as the NCA will announce when this moratorium will end after which all unregistered SIMs will permanently be blocked from the networks. If your line has been blocked, and you still need it, please go and register. There may be however some whose SIMs are blocked inadvertently in full registration. Kindly notify the NCA and a full investigation will be conducted to be determined if this was really the case and why it happened”.