Frustration Mounts As SIM Card Blockage Strikes

Due to their limited ability to make or receive calls, the punitive measures taken against mobile network users who have not yet re-registered their SIM cards are starting to hurt.

Owners of SIM cards that have not yet been re-registered were prevented from using their cards to make calls or carry out any other transactions twice this week as a result of a penalty implemented by the National Communications Authority (NCA).

Unfortunately, this punitive action has also been applied to some users who have successfully re-registered their cards, which has angered a lot of people. Long lines have formed at several telecom centres as customers show up to get their problems fixed as a result of this.

Warning

The NCA insisted in a statement last Sunday that starting on Monday, September 5, 2022, "a set of punitive actions aimed to finish the year-long countrywide SIM re-registration process will kick in.

All outbound calls will be redirected to an interactive voice response (IVR) starting on Monday, September 5, 2022, for a SIM registration sensitization message to be played before all calls are connected.

As of Wednesday, September 7, 2022, "Subscribers with incomplete registration, that is, those who connected their Ghana cards to their SIM cards via *404# but have not yet proceeded to have their biodata taken, may likewise experience comparable service disruptions."

Additionally, it stated that starting on September 12, data services will be subject to disciplinary penalties.

According to the press release, when the punitive measures went into effect for the month of September 2022, these impacted users would have their outbound calls and internet services restricted for 48 hours once a week.

To accomplish this punitive step, "Mobile Network Operators shall divide the unregistered SIMs into five groups."

Crowds and agitation

The Daily Graphic visited some of the centres and saw that the lines, agitations, frustrations, and chaotic scenes were building up much like they had at the beginning of the exercise.

When the Daily Graphic visited the MTN, Vodafone, and AirtelTigo service centres in Accra, the scenario remained the same.

It saw that while some consumers had gone to challenge the service providers about restricting their networks despite having gone through the re-registration procedure, others had just come to finish the process.

The Daily Graphic was informed by several customers that they had received notifications from their service providers stating that their SIM cards had been "partially" disabled for two days because they had neglected to re-register them using the Ghana Card.

"I have used every available method to obtain my card, so why am I being penalized for something that is out of my control? A visibly angry consumer inquired.

Another victim remarked, "This is really unjust and shows that the problems with the SIM card re-registration are more complex than what the NCA and the Minister of Communications are telling us."

"We are all aware that we must re-register our SIM cards, but in this instance, the NIA was unable to produce the cards, and instead of addressing this, we are being penalized.

"The NCA and the Ministry of Communications want to incite this unjust and pointless conflict. Before enacting these severe measures, they must first ensure that the card issue procedure is effective, one of the kids stated, practically in tears.

The punishments had already taken effect, according to representatives of the service providers who talked with the Daily Graphic, but since it was a regulatory directive, there wasn't much they could do.