Data from the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications has shown that the number of subscribers undertaking the SIM re-registration exercise saw a significant drop after the government announced an extension of the deadline.

According to the figures, the number of subscribers re-registering their SIM cards fell to 5,861 on August 19, 2022, from about 235,000 recorded on July 31, 2022, when the extension was announced.

This represented a 98% decline.

The data also showed that by August 1, 2022, the number of registration fell to 62,715, compared with the 235,460 recorded on July 28, 2022. The trend continued until it dropped further to 5,861 by August 19th, 2022.

Some telecommunication firms told Joy Business that as low as 80 people were registered nationwide on daily basis, a situation that they described as not encouraging.

Meanwhile, Joy Business, has gathered that the telcos are not going to push for any form of extension due to the extra cost to be incurred in keeping the exercise running.

Government through the sector minister has also warned that there will not be any extension as it launches the online portal for the registration for android users.

Following public agitations, the Minister for Communications and Digitalisation, Ursula Owusu Ekuful announced an extension of the deadline to 30th September, 2022. It appears the decision to extend the deadline had slowdown the exercise.

Some people had indicated that they were yet to receive their Ghana Card, the primary identification system used for the SIM card registration.

After the deadline, subscribers who have not yet registered their SIM cards will be blocked from making calls, browsing and receive calls.

Source: Lawrence Segbefia (MyJoyOnlineNews)