The recent implementation of new legislation in Ghana that requires mobile subscribers to provide identification to link their accounts has seen over eight million unregistered SIM cards blocked.

That is according to Ghana’s Minister of Communications and Digitalization, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, notes Comms Update.

The new legislation which was introduced last year means that mobile users must link their accounts with their Ghana Card ID, to combat fraud and increase accountability.

This campaign to get users to register their IDs with their SIM cards began over a year ago and was set to conclude by July 31, before being extended until November 30.

However, with over eight million users not heeding the call, it means they since have lost access to voice, data, SMS, and mobile money services.

One operator, MTN Ghana, warned that it expected to lose 5.7 million of its subscribers before the legislation came in.

All is not lost for those that have been frozen out though, as users have until May 2023 to reactivate their accounts by filling out the necessary bio-capture process.