Government to Roll Out Fresh SIM Registration Exercise in 2026
- The Government of Ghana has announced plans to launch a new nationwide SIM registration exercise in the first quarter of 2026
- Samuel Nartey George said the previous registration under Ursula Owusu-Ekuful was invalid due to a lack of biometric verification
- NIA CEO Wisdom Yayra Koku Deku also confirmed that fingerprints collected in 2022 were never authenticated against its systems
The Government of Ghana announced its intention to roll out a new SIM registration nationwide in the first quarter of 2026.
This was disclosed by the Minister for Communications, Digital Technology and Innovations, Samuel Nartey George, on Wednesday, December 3, 2025.
Source: UGC
Speaking in an interview with TV3, the minister, affectionately called Sam George, claimed that the previous exercise conducted under his predecessor, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, was invalid.
“The registrations that were purported to have been done by Ursula Owusu and the NPP did not cross-reference the biometrics they took from you against that database. Nothing of that sort was done."
He also said that all the necessary legal framework for the SIM registration is almost ready.
"The L.I. is ready and again I am meticulous about what I am doing. In the first quarter of next year, we will roll it out. We are currently at the Public Procurement Authority doing the procurement of the service provider to do the SIM registration.
“We have drafted the L.I. and it will be laid before Parliament because again there must be a proper legal basis for what we are doing. Already, there’s been testing, there’s been all kinds of things done by the regulator," the minister added.
Sam George added that the new registration would be different and not be a continuation of the previous one, adding that the government is cleaning up previously collected data to ensure accuracy in the upcoming exercise.
He further stated that the ministry has been working closely with the Interior Ministry, the National Identification Authority (NIA), and other relevant agencies to secure a more reliable system for biometric verification.
NIA boss provides details on SIM registration
The Chief Executive Officer of the NIA, Wisdom Yayra Koku Deku, provided more details on the upcoming SIM registration exercise.
See the Facebook post below:
Yayra Koku stated that the fingerprints collected during the previous registration exercise in 2022 were never used to verify or authenticate SIM card owners against the NIA system.
He explained that they only took a picture of SIM owners' fingerprints and saved them in the system that was used at the time.
"The fingerprints collected during the SIM card registration exercise in 2022 were NEVER used to verify or authenticate SIM card owners against the National Identification Authority (NIA) system. They only took a picture of your fingerprints and saved them in whatever system they were using.
"Let me emphasise: captured fingerprints were not used to authenticate identities with any authoritative system. Prof [Ken] Attafuah’s letter in September 2021 to the Telecoms Chamber confirms this.
"It is important to understand that you cannot confirm the identity of an individual without them undergoing biometric authentication - which includes fingerprint scanning, facial recognition with liveliness checks, iris scanning, etc.," he added.
The NIA boss further pledged his full support for the new nationwide SIM registration exercise.
Source: UGC
Sam George announces cheaper data bundles
Earlier, YEN.com.gh reported that Sam George had disclosed that Ghanaians would enjoy free data on specific holidays.
In a viral video, the Communications Minister explained that he wanted Ghanaians to enjoy free data on these listed days.
Proofreading by Bruce Douglas, copy editor at YEN.com.gh.
Source: YEN.com.gh
