The GHS5 National Communications Authority (NCA) charges for SIM card registration is not only limited to the use of the self-service app but even applies to the regular app used by the telcos to capture subscribers’ biometric data.
For every single SIM Card the telcos register using the Kelni GVG/Excel Inc. app given to them by the NCA, the telcos pay GHS5 on behalf of the customer, so that the customer does not have to pay.
Techgh24 gathered that the National Identification Authority (NIA) initially tried to sell some devices to the telcos for SIM registration at some ridiculous prices, but that did not fly, so the telcos were left with the option of installing the NCA’s problematic app onto their own devices and paying GHS5 for every single SIM card registered.
The latest mobile voice subscription numbers published by NCA indicates that as of June 2022, there was a little shy of 41 million active SIM cards in the country. If all these SIM cards get registered, that comes to a cool GHS205 million (US$20.3 million) to be shared between NCA and the private app developers.
As of July ending, the Minister of Communications and Digitalization said 25,260,661 persons had linked their SIM cards to their Ghana cards, and out of that number, 16,590,350 had completed their registration. So, for those 16.5 million plus subscribers, NCA and its cohorts made almost GHS83 million (over US$8.25 million) from the telcos.
The current figures are not yet available, but since the Minister’s last press conference, several people have gone to the registration centers and others have used the self-service app to register and NCA has gotten paid for all those registrations.
So, whereas the biometric data capture at the telcos’ registration centers is free for customers, NCA and its private sector agents, Kelni GVG/Excel Inc. are actually making money from the telcos, while collecting money from people who use self-service app as well.
Meanwhile, Ghanaians got their bio-data captured by National Identification Authority (NIA) for free and that data is available to all public institutions at a far cheaper rate than what NCA is doing now. And the NIA data is of a better quality than what NCA is collecting with those problematic apps.
The state-owned Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), for instance, stated recently that the use of the Ghana Card to replace the SSNIT card has saved SSNIT over GHS60 million.
The CEO explained that printing cards was costing them GHS67 for one and for one million persons, that came to GHS67 million. But with a meagre GHS7 million, NIA has given SSNIT access to the data of 30 million persons to connect and that has saved them a lot of money.
Also Read: Ghana card saves SSNIT GHS60 million on biometric cards printing
The Bank of Ghana (BoG) and even Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) are doing same, using the bio-data available on the Ghana Card to regularize people’s details without having to capture another set of bio-data at a cost to any person or institution.
On the instructions of the BoG, banks have now turned customers’ Ghana Card numbers into their bank account numbers and GRA has done same with tax identification numbers (TIN) as no cost to any person.
But NCA, on the directive of the Minister of Communications, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, has managed to lead everyone on this needless path of collecting another set of bio-data from Ghanaians just to make money off telcos and off Ghanaians and share with the developer of the two apps, which have become a source of frustration for many.
The Minister made the whole Ghana believe that the bio-data being collected for SIM registration is to ensure a more robust SIM register and also to help government fight crime in the digital space easily.
But NCA did not need to collect another set of bio-data when the NIA has already collected enough high-quality data being used by all institutions. Indeed, the NIA has had cause to question the quality of the data being collected by the NCA with an app built by some boys from Kenya.
However, since NCA insisted on collecting its own set of bio-data, it should have used some of the funds it collects in huge surtaxes, charges and fines from industry players on behalf of Ghanaians to pay for the development and use of the apps for the purpose.
By law, NCA does not have to pay any of those huge moneys into the Consolidated Fund. The law allows them to keep and use those funds and only report to the finance minister on how the funds were applied.
But the exercise, which they made everyone believe was in the national interest, is now being paid for by telcos and by individuals who opt for their sloppy self-service app.
Even worse, the self-service app is designed such that users would have to pay at the start before getting access to fill in their details. So, if in the course of using it, there is an interruption, and you start all over again, the app will require you to pay again before you get access.
Also Read: SIM Registration Self-Service App goes live
Due to this sloppy configuration of the app, several people have reported having to pay three or four times before they finally get to register. In effective it cost some people up to GHS20 before they could register, while others could not even register after paying more than once; and the app does not give refunds either.
