The National Communication Authority (NCA) has reiterated the point that the registration of mobile phone Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards currently in progress is free. The Authority said it is therefore illegal for agents of mobile telecom operators to demand fees under any form of guise. Mr. John Benyarku Essamuah, Deputy Manager, Customer and Corporate Affairs of NCA said this at a phone chip registration and identification seminar in Ho on Thursday for field workers of the Information Services Department (ISD) in the Volta Region. He said it was also a gross anomaly for these agents to register SIM cards based on data received on phone, without seeing the client. Current reports on the registration exercise indicate that such a situation exists in certain parts of the country. Under the NCA policy, unregistered SIM Cards by June 30, next year would be blocked. Mr Essamuah stressed that the exercise is an important national documentation that posed no threat to individual liberties. He said all data used in registering the SIM Cards would be verified and spurious information would be cancelled. He urged mobile phone operators to open up more registration centres to enable subscribers to reach them. Mr. Essamuah also urged subscribers to see the exercise as a civic responsibility. He said in the nearest future, mobile phones would also be registered. On co-location of telecom masts, he said, the NCA had reached agreement with the telecom operators. Mr. Essamuah said staff of ISD would now support the exercise by educating the public nationwide. Mr. Bennet Dzogbelu, Regional Information Officer tasked his officers to get to work to fill the information vacuum on the exercise with credible messages before wrong information is circulated among the people. In a related development, a concerned group in Koforidua has expressed worry about the way and manner mobile telecom operators are conducting the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Cards registration in the Eastern Region. They said the operators were not scrutinizing the identification cards of persons, which could defeat the essence of the exercise because it would be difficult to trace SIM Cards rightful owners. The group said the caliber of persons hired by telecom operators for the exercise left much to be desired because some of them had little knowledge about its essence. They were not satisfied with the level of importance attached to the exercise by the mobile operators saying some have adopted a strategy known as “buy and register” where their clients parade the streets and sell the SIM Cards and register them at the same time. According to the group the hasty and loose manner in which the registration was being done would allow for abuse of the identification materials, especially in the region. The group has therefore suggested to the National Communication Authority (NCA) to call the various telecommunication companies to order to ensure that the registration stayed on course. They said the NCA should clearly spell out to the telecom companies the right procedure for the registration.