MTN Ghana blocks 4.8 million users

MTN Ghana blocks 4.8 million users who failed to re-register their SIMs with the Ghana card during the compulsory registration of SIM cards.

The move complies with the directive from the National Communications Authority that all telcos should re-register their clients and block all users who fail to comply.

According to MTN, after blocking the 4.8 million users, its subscriber base decreased by 6.3% to 26.8 million at the end of 2023.

MTN further revealed that as of May 31, 2023, it had blocked 5.4 million SIMs that were not registered with the Ghana card

A total of six hundred thousand SIMs from the blocked cohort were, however, re-registered and removed from the blocked list, which satisfied the legal re-registration requirements set by the National Communications Authority.

In October 2021, the NCA, through the telecom operators, embarked on a nationwide re-registration of all SIM cards using the Ghana National ID card.

The exercise was completed at the end of May 2023.

The re-registration of SIM cards was not without challenges, as many users had difficulties accessing their Ghana cards. This may account for many of the abandoned SIM cards in the nearly 5 million SIMs blocked.

Scammers have, however, not decreased after the re-registration as they continue to operate. In recent times, they have tried to hack WhatsApp apps and steal Momo from unsuspecting users, just as was the case in the pre-SIM re-registration era.

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Commercial banks have been at the receiving end of some of the scam attempts as their clients are contacted by these scammers who use registered SIMs to operate.