The National Communications Authority (NCA) says from March 30, 2011, it will start verification of all registered SIM cards to ensure that the ID cards people used in registering their SIM cards were valid. Mr. Joshua Peprah is the Director, Regulatory and Administration at the NCA and he tells Adom News that all the telecom operators have submitted the list of registered SIM cards to the NCA, but the verification exercise would determine which ones are valid and which ones are not. Early on the NCA revealed that the submissions from the network operators indicated operators have registered between 75 and 90 per cent of their customers since June last year. Mr. Peprah however noted that it is possible that some people used fake IDs to register their SIM card so the NCA would submit the details of all the IDs used to their various issuing authorities to confirm their validity or otherwise. “People used their drivers’ licenses, passports, voters’ ID card and National Health Insurance cards so we will submit the details of the ID information to the respective issuing authority to verify,” he said. Mr. Peprah said those who would be found to have used invalid ID cards to register their SIM cards would be given another opportunity to re-register their SIM cards before the June 30 deadline. “After the verification, all the telecom operators will be given the opportunity to recall customers whose registration would be found to be invalid to come and regularize their details with genuine IDs or they would lose their phone numbers,” he said. He explained that the SIM registration exercise is for the security of phone users themselves and also to make it possible for the Mobile Number Portability to take off smoothly on July 1, 2011. Meanwhile the telecom operators say they are confident they would register all their old and new customers before the deadline. Some say they expect a mad-rush for registration this month, ahead of the verification which begins March 30, 2011. Story by: Samuel Nii Narku Dowuona/Adom FM/Ghana