Airtel Ghana says any customer who registers an Airtel SIM between now and the legally mandated March 3, 2012 deadline, that customer will automatically receive GHC5 worth of Airtel talk time for free. The move has been described as ‘very aggressive’ mopping up strategy but also a necessary one, as the records show Airtel had quite a substantial number of invalid SIM registrations as at February 6, 2012. But Airtel said between February 6, 2012 and now, it had managed to reduce the supposed invalid registrations significantly. The company says although most of its close to 2.7 million subscribers have registered their SIM cards, the rest who are yet to do so, need to register before the deadline. “To encourage unregistered subscribers to register their SIMS, Airtel is offering GHC5 free talk time for on-net calls which takes effect from Tuesday February 28, 2012 till Saturday, March 3, 2012 deadline.” Head of Corporate Communications and External Affairs at Airtel Ghana, Donald Gwira said in a statement even though a greater chunk of Airtel subscribers have registered their SIMS, the compny was embarking on a last-ditch sensitization drive to ensure that all subscribers register their SIMS and avoid being deactivated. According to Mr. Gwira, “the tendency is for subscribers to forget that all SIM cards including those in modems and routers, iPads, etc must be registered. The focus for some of our subscribers has been on their mobile or voice lines only and our efforts before March 2 is to aggressively remind them of the need to duly register all other SIM cards they own.” Mr. Gwira advised subscribers to check the registration status of their SIMS by sending a blank text to the short code 400. He also revealed that subscribers can check the registration status of friends and family by texting the number to the short code 400. “Subscribers with unregistered SIMS may visit any Airtel Ghana shop or authorized retailers with any of the five acceptable national IDs – Voter ID, passport, NHIS, NIA or the drivers’ license to register their SIMS or risk deactivation after Saturday March 3, 2012,” he said.