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We Will block all unregistered SIM cards after July 31st—MTN warns as deadline looms
As the July 31st, 2022 deadline for the merger of people’s mobile phone SIM numbers and their Ghana Cards fast approaches, one of the major operators in the telecommunication industry, MTN, has warned that it does not intend to give room to any of its customers who fail to meet the timeline as directed by the government.
The Chief Executive Officer of MTN Ghana, Serlom Adadevor, gave the warning in Kumasi at a media and stakeholders forum for selected journalists and others.
Mr. Adadevor stated that MTN had completed the merger process of approximately 16.8 million customers, representing 60% of its customers, as of the close of business on Wednesday, June 22, 2022.
He noted that about 10.8 million others, representing 40 percent of MTN subscribers, have also completed only the first process involving self-service, and must necessarily go to any of the set up bio registration centres in the country to complete their national identification process in compliance with the government’s policy directive.
Mr. Adadevor emphasized that MTN Ghana will effectively block any of its subscribers’ mobile phone contact if the merger is not completed by the March 31st deadline.
however, noted that the timeline for the completion of the SIM Card-Ghana Card merger, which is July 31st, is different from the Bank of Ghana’s deadline to all banks in the country, which is the 30th of this month, to stop accepting any other nationally recognized ID card for purposes of banking transactions, and therefore urged members of the public to take note of the time difference in the two national policy directives.
We’ll block all unregistered SIM cards after July 31st—MTN warns as deadline looms.
Touching on other issues, Mr. Adadevor disclosed that MTN is on course to invest about one point-seven billion Ghana Cedis in investment in Ghana’s telecommunication infrastructure this year, while the ultimate target is one billion dollars in infrastructure by the end of 2025.
He said his company is supporting the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC) to expand telephony to every rural area in the country with the objective of increasing telecommunication access.
Mr. Adadevor expressed worry about the rising rate of destruction of fiber cables, which is one of the means through which telecommunication services are provided to people.
He cited theft, destruction caused by road construction, and other factors as major causes of the problem, which he said sometimes contributes to poor communication services.
He therefore appealed to all stakeholders to help stop the problem so as to ensure uninterrupted service provision.