Sylvia Owusu-Ankomah, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications, has said the planned SIM registration is not going to be a silver bullet that stops fraud.
The Telecoms Chamber CEO highlighted that consumer awareness and protection of personal identification numbers are critical in stopping the growing threat of mobile-related frauds.
She stressed that most of the mobile related fruad are driven by social engineering schemes where fraudsters impersonate trusted individuals or institutions to scam persons from disclosing sensitive information.
Speaking in an interview on Citi Business News, Sylvia Owusu-Ankomah explained, “SIM registration is not going to be a silver bullet that stops fraud. The nature of fraud that we are currently experiencing as a country is mostly on a social engineering scheme.
When I say social engineering, these are legitimate individuals who would call you and pretend to be somebody else and, you know, seek information from you and fraudulently, you know, lead you into releasing your personal identity, your personal identity number.
“Your PIN is sacred. So to the extent that you protect your PIN, there shouldn’t be room for someone to defraud you,” she said.
She added, “What the SIM registration will do, however, is to ensure that for every subscriber, your number is biometrically linked to the national ID database, which means that if you are not the user, if I acquire a SIM card, which was acquired by someone else, and I use it, I purchase that SIM and I do not register it directly, any crime that is committed with that particular number will be linked back to me as a user.
“So I do think that there is the need for a lot of consumer education around protecting our SIM, around ensuring that the numbers that we register are authentically ours and that you do not go and purchase a SIM card that has been pre-registered, because it means that if any fraudulent activities undertaken with that number, you will be tracked and you will have to bear the consequences of it,” she added.
Her remarks follow, Sam Nartey George, the Minister for Communication, Innovations, and Digital Technologies, who has announced that the Cabinet has approved a completely new SIM registration exercise.
According to Sam George, the move follows an extensive review of the previous process.
Sam George disclosed that the earlier SIM registration exercise had a weak biometric enforcement, data inconsistencies and cases of registration fraud.
Speaking during high-level talks with the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications and the National Communications Authority (NCA), Sam stressed that NCA will serve as the central repository of SIM registration data.
Sam George is quoted to have said, “A Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR) will be introduced to enable cross-network blocking of stolen or fraud-linked devices”.
Earlier, Sam George had announced that the government had begun processes for a nationwide SIM card registration exercise.
According to Sam George, the upcoming SIM registration will be well structured, convenient, with no long queues and disruptions.
He highlighted that the SIM card registration exercise will strengthen data integrity and national security within the telecommunications sector.
Speaking during a keynote address at the 2026 Data Protection Commission Conference, Sam George stated, “The failure in the last SIM card registration has left us with a difficult but necessary decision. After extensive cabinet deliberation, we are announcing the beginning of the process for a new SIM card registration exercise across the whole country”.
“This exercise will be the first in our history to have live verification against the NIA’s database and provide biometric verification for every registration. Let me state this up front”.
The upcoming SIM card registration exercise will prioritize customer’s comfort. We are putting in place measures, working with the Chamber of Telecoms, to avoid long queues, including self-service portals and a seamless process for completing the registration,” he said.
He further disclosed that the exercise will not be constrained by any deadlines adding that all data collected will be fully protected.
Sam George added, “You won’t have the queues. You won’t have the deadlines that were unreachable in the past experience. We are going to make sure that the citizen is placed at the front of this registration.
“The regulator, the National Communications Authority, is engaging stakeholders on the rollout. The Data Protection Commission must be central to ensuring that even as biometric data is collected and processed, it is done with the principal consideration of protecting the customer. Trust must be elevated above all other considerations,” the minister remarked.