Some subscribers of the various telecommunication companies are demanding alternative SIM card re-registration services as queues at registration centers continue to increase.

The Communication Ministry in November last year announced the re-registration of SIM cards which is expected to end in March 2022.

According to the Ministry, the exercise is to curb SIM Boxing and other criminal activities perpetrated by fraudsters using fake SIM cards and also to facilitate E-education, among others.

A visit by Joynews’ Manuel Koranteng on Thursday, January 6, 2022, to MTN’s registration centre at Ring Road indicated that subscribers had to join long queues in order to get their SIM card registered.

For the past few days after the resumption of work from the holidays, various telecommunication outlets in the country have seen long queues from subscribers seeking to re-register their SIM cards to avoid a rush during the latter days of the deadline.

Some of the subscribers expressed their frustration and the tiresome process they have experienced trying to get their SIM card re-registered.

“I came here yesterday around 6 am. I couldn’t do it because after being in the queue for long hours they told me that I have to do some linking and because I did the linking yesterday, I couldn’t do the re-registration yesterday. I came back today and they said no network,” one subscriber said.

“It’s very stressful being here. I have been here for more than three hours and I have not seen anything. We are just standing here. There are no chairs for you to sit on and you have to stand. Tomorrow [Friday] is a holiday and I can’t be here. I will be going to school on Monday and so if I don’t do it on Saturday, I don’t know when I can do it…They’ve not told us anything, they just said there is no network,” another subscriber lamented.

A 66-year-old woman who had joined the queue to also re-register her SIM card told JoyNews that she had been at the registration centre since 6 am yet had not registered her SIM card.

She said she may attempt to return to the centre whenever she gets time if she can’t re-register.

“I came here at 6 am and till now I haven’t heard anything. All we hear is no network so I am waiting for the network to be back. I would go home and return whenever I get the time to re-register if I can’t do it today [Thursday],” she said.

Another woman who had left Pokuase to Ring Road to re-register her SIM card said the long queue had not been moving as expected.

“The queue is not moving at all since morning due to the unavailability of the network,” she told JoyNews’ Manuel Koranteng.

The subscribers have therefore called on the Telcos to provide alternatives to re-register their SIM cards.

They want the Telcos to make agents available to visit homes and communities to re-register the SIM cards.

“I think that one will be the best,” one of the subscribers noted.

“We would have loved to have their agents visit us at homes to do the registration so that we don’t have to leave our busy schedules but rather register at the comfort of our homes,” another subscriber added.

To register your SIM card, one would have to dial the shortcode *404# and provide your Ghana card details and confirm after which a unique shortcode would be sent to your phone.

The next step is to visit any registration centre of your telecommunication company to complete the process.