Minister for Communications and Digitalisation, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has hinted that plans are underway to introduce a mobile application that will aid self-registration in the ongoing national SIM card registration exercise.

According to her, only about two million of the population as of the end of last week have been able to register successfully, a situation she describes as very low. This is due to the number of SIM cards yet to be registered, hence the need for the ‘app’ to facilitate the exercise.

Speaking at at the 11th Ghana Information Technology and Telecom Awards in Accra, where she won the Digital Leader Year, Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful said “I must say in the coming weeks, we’re working on launching an application for self-registration.”

“A mobile application that will let individuals register at their own convenience without any delay. This is because looking at the figures it is just about two million SIM cards that had been registered so far and we have about 40 million cards nationwide to register”, she noted.

“I think that is on a bit low side hence the need for us to quicken the pace and clean up our digital eco-system for once and for all” she added.

On how the exercise was faring, she said “it is going well, but let me sound this caution that we are very serious about deactivating all unregistered SIM cards by March 2022 and therefore everyone who is yet to register must take the necessary processes to get registered before the deadline.”

The compulsory SIM card registration exercise begun in the first week of October 2021 for all mobile phone users to register their mobile numbers.

Other award winners of the night are as follows:

Cyber Security Consulting Company of the Year	Cyberteq Falcon
Emerging ICT Company of the Year	Technology Advantage Group
Mobile Data Service Provider of the Year	MTN
Enterprise Solutions Provider of the Year	Comsys
Cyber Forensic Technology Solutions Provider of the Year	e-Crime Bureau
Wholesale Infrastructure provider of the Year	CSquared
Unified Communications Provider of the Year	Vodafone
Wireless Infrastructure Provider of the Year	ATC
Customer Experience of the Year	MTN
Promoting Public Sector Digital Inclusion	Ascend Digital Solutions
Payments System Innovation of the Year	GhQR By  GhIPSS
Best Use of ICT in Driving Efficiency	Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority ( DVLA)
Metro Fibre Infrastructure Company of the Year	Comsys
Excellence in ICT for Sustainable Development	GIFEC
Telecom Support Company of the Year	ATC
Innovative Card Product of The Year	Eazypay Gh Dual Card By Zenith Bank
Fintech Company of the Year	Zeepay
Mobile Money Leadership Award	MTN Momo
Smartphone Brand of the Year	TECNO
Internet Service Provider of the Year	Comsys
Business Transformation Company of the Year	Cloudware
Telecom Business Service Provider of the Year	Vodafone
Digital Bank of the Year	Standard Chartered
Best ATM and Kiosk Implementation Award	Absa
Innovative Product of the Year	Vodafone Cash
Excellence in Cyber Security Initiatives	Cyber Security Authority
Mobile Banking App of the year	Standard Chartered
Excellence in Social Investment	MTN
Phone Distributor of the Year	Mobile Zone
Best Bank for Financial Inclusion	Zenith Bank Ghana
Innovative e-payment solutions Provider of the Year	Accelerex Ghana
ICT Manage Services Company of the Year	Liranz
Innovative Data Centre Provider of the Year	Africa Datacentre ( ADC)
Africa Infrastructure Company of the Year	IHS
Excellence in Driving Digital Transformation	HUAWEI
Digital Transformation Provider of the Year	Reliance Infosystem
Network Operations Team of the Year	MTN Network Team
Digital Transformation Team of the Year	Vodafone
Customer Service Team of the Year	MTN Customer Service Team
Telecom Tower Hall all of Fame	ATC
Bespoke Data Product of the Year	AirtelTigo
Outstanding Contribution to ICT Reporting	Samuel Dowuona, Editor, Tech24gh
Most Promising Customer Services Professional of the Year	Salihu Abu, Senior Manager, Customer Relations & Credit Management, MTN
Most Promising Technology  Professional of the Year	Joseph Lamptey, Technology – Service Delivery, Vodafone