SIM, Ghana Card registration – Smooth rough edges

Dear Editor,

The procedure requiring us to use the Ghana Card to re-register our SIM cards is becoming a bit cumbersome. At dawn people leave the comfort of their homes and queue at NHIS offices as well as the premises of telecom service providers to have their details captured.

The young and old are not left out of this scramble which I believe could be avoided. While at it, some of them fail to observe the COVID 19 safety protocols.

Those who wear nose masks lower them down their chins and some are not bothered at all about safety measures. It is not even possible to detect whether or not persons in the queue have been vaccinated. I believe these gatherings could be potential COVID-19 hotspots, considering the surge of the new variant, Omicron.

I am convinced the short grace period given for the SIM registration could be accounting for any‘stampede.’ I thought subscribers could complete the registration process on their phones but I am told we still have to go to the offices of our telecom service providers to finalise the process.  

People who have subscribed to more than one telecom service provider are, therefore, compelled to move from one customer service location centre to the other to complete the process.

I believe this and other inconveniences of the SIM re-registration could have been avoided if subscribers were allowed to seamlessly key in details on their mobile phones and do not have to show up at any office to complete the process.

As the March deadline approaches, it would be appropriate to provide workable alternatives to subscribers as efforts are made to make the acquisition of the Ghana Card less hectic.

The object of these two exercises is, indeed, plausible but we need to smooth the rough edges.

From Priscilla Efriyie Ankapong, Cape Coast.