MTN to deactivate over 5.7 million sim cards that have completed Stage 1 (Linkage of Ghana Card ID to SIM Card) but have not completed Stage 2 (Biometric Capture) (“Not fully registered with the Ghana Card”) from December 01, 2022.
As such, it will deactivate the SIM cards of 5,701,149 subscribers on December 01, 2022.
As of November 26, 2022, 22,112,943 MTN Ghana subscribers had successfully linked their Ghana card to their SIM cards (Stage 1), while 16,411,794 had successfully completed the bio-capture phase (Stage 2).
The move is in compliance with the directive from the National Communications Authority (NCA) communicated to all telecom operators in a meeting held on November 17, 2022.
In a statement, it said it had already complied with the first stage of the directive by deactivating the data services of SIM Cards that have not fully registered with the Ghana Card on November 20, 2022, as directed.
“Customers should note that a fully registered SIM card is one that has successfully completed both Stage 1 (Linkage) and Stage 2 (Bio-capture). All deactivated SIM cards can be reactivated within six months from December 01, 2022 (the date of deactivation), by completing the bio-capture process”, it explained.
The telecom giant added that deactivated SIM cards will be recycled if they are not reactivated by the end of May 2023.
MTN, therefore, urged all its customers who are not fully registered to endeavor to do so as soon as possible at any of it service centers.
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It expressed concern about the inconvenience the deactivation has caused its customers and said it is willing to assist to get customers back online.
It concluded expressing commitment to the national SIM registration exercise to build an accurate customer database to help minimize fraud in the country.