All users of mobile phones in the country will soon be required to register their handsets with a central database to be established by the Ministry of Communication.
This, according to the Minister of Communication Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, will among other things, reduce the influx of stolen, counterfeit and substandard mobile phones into the country.
Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful speaking at a press interaction in Accra said the Central Equipment Identity Registry will ensure that only approved and recognized mobile devices would function in Ghana.
“To address the challenges of the thriving trade in substandard equipment, the Ministry will establish a Central Equipment Identity Registry (CEIR) to register all devices in the country and reduce the influx of stolen, substandard and counterfeit mobile devices.
The CEIR has the capability of blocking all unregistered mobile devices and preventing them from operating on any network in Ghana,” she said.
The registry, she explained that, will be connected to the Global System for Mobile Communication Association (GSMA) database to access the IMEI of approved and blacklisted devices.
“This will ensure that mobile devices entering the country are properly authenticated and give us an idea of the scale of use of grey or black market devices in Ghana,” Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful stated.