SIM registration: The ultimate objective is to have a database that we can rely on – NCA Boss

 

Director-General of National Communications Authority (NCA) Rev. Ing. Edmund Yirenkyi Fianko has explained that SIM registration exercise to be carried out is intended to have a reliable data base system for the country.

He noted that the database system used for the previous SIM registration under the NPP administration is fraught with irregularities, hence, the need for a new SIM registration to clean up the database system.

The NCA Director-General maintained that the exercise is crucial to strengthening the integrity of Ghana’s telecommunications system, enhancing security, and reducing identity-related fraud.

“The ultimate objective is to have a database that we can rely on for law enforcement, for our common security,” he said on TV3’s Hot Issues, Sunday, March 22, 2026.

According to him, “the more there are fraud cases that cannot be solved, the less people have confident in using digital systems and remember we are gradually moving into an environment where digital is going to be our life. So, this is at the core of building confidence in the systems that we all use.”

He further explained that the decision to proceed with the registration was informed by a preliminary assessment of the database, which exposed gaps in identity verification.

He said the Authority analysed a sample of approximately 2.3 million records to determine the authenticity of the database system. The findings showed that only 81 percent of the records matched through facial verification with zero match for biometric verification.

Rev. Ing. Fianko acknowledged that the sample size was relatively small compared to the total number of registered subscribers and therefore not fully representative. However, he stressed that the outcome was sufficient to highlight serious issues within the database.

“We just took a sample to check to decide whether to go or not to go. We took a very small sample of 2.3 million and that’s what we found that even with the facial matches of that sample only 81% matched.

“When you expand the sample, the percentages could either go up or down. It is not a representative sample because it was very small compared to the total number of registrations that was carried out but the key point is that the exercise confirmed there were real problems that needed to be addressed,” he indicated.