The Nigerian Communications Fee (NCC) has registered roughly 231 million telecommunications units in Nigeria because it starts enforcing a verification machine designed to forestall counterfeit, cloned and unapproved telephones from getting access to cellular networks.
The initiative is meant to beef up shopper coverage, give a boost to community high quality and assist regulators monitor units imported and bought within the nation.
The Director of Technical Requirements and Community Integrity on the NCC, Edoyemi Ogoh, disclosed this all through a media briefing at the implementation of the Software Checker and Kind Approval Compliance framework in Abuja on Tuesday.
NCC explains new telephone verification machine
Ogoh mentioned the fee had mechanically registered units already running on Nigerian telecommunications networks, which means current subscribers don’t want to take further steps to make sure their telephones.
- “We had already registered about 231 million units around the nation. And the ones units, mainly, you don’t must do the rest. The subscriber does now not must do the rest,” he mentioned.
Alternatively, newly offered units will have to meet the fee’s verification necessities earlier than they are able to get right of entry to telecommunications networks.
The NCC is not going to retrospectively disconnect units that had been already hooked up earlier than the brand new machine turned into operational, together with those who would possibly not meet present approval requirements.
- “We don’t seem to be blacklisting those who have arise earlier than this,” Ogoh mentioned, explaining that the verdict protects shoppers who bought units when verification gear weren’t to be had.
He added that the framework would save you further non-compliant units from getting into the telecommunications ecosystem.
The fee could also be operating with the Nigeria Customs Provider, producers, importers and sellers to authenticate units earlier than they input the Nigerian marketplace. The machine will allow regulators to spot importers, import dates and the amounts of person units, supporting enforcement in opposition to counterfeit merchandise.
Consistent with Ogoh, the initiative follows the advent of the Kind Approval Industry Laws in August 2024 and consultations with business stakeholders. Segment 132(2) of the Nigerian Communications Act 2003 calls for telecommunications apparatus to obtain regulatory approval earlier than it’s bought or utilized in Nigeria.
How counterfeit telephones have an effect on community high quality
Ogoh mentioned counterfeit and inaccurate units may just give a contribution to deficient telecommunications provider as a result of some apparatus interferes with community infrastructure and impacts different subscribers hooked up to the similar mobile web page.
He famous that the fee’s exams had known device-related issues along infrastructure obstacles, lack of confidence, flooding and different components affecting community efficiency.
The verification framework is due to this fact meant to assist the regulator establish non-compliant units and save you additional access into the telecommunications marketplace.
On privateness considerations, Ogoh wired that the machine was once now not designed to observe subscribers’ private data.
- “It’s not a surveillance device and does now not supply get right of entry to to non-public data saved on units,” he mentioned.
He defined that the machine is determined by system identity data fairly than get right of entry to to subscribers’ messages, pictures, contacts or monetary data.
How Nigerians can examine their telephones
Ogoh prompt shoppers to make use of the NCC’s verification channels to test whether or not their telephones, capsules, modems and different SIM-enabled units have won regulatory approval.
- Subscribers can dial *315# or talk over with the NCC’s Software Checker portal. They may be able to retrieve a telephone’s World Cellular Apparatus Identification (IMEI) quantity through dialling *#06#.
- Customers who uncover that they have got bought unverified units must touch their dealers for replacements. Unresolved proceedings may also be reported in the course of the fee’s toll-free 315 helpline.
Previous, the NCC’s Head of Public Affairs, Nnenna Ukoha, described the initiative as a part of the fee’s broader efforts to give a boost to telecommunications protection, community high quality and shopper coverage. She prompt reporters to assist teach the general public in regards to the adjustments.
The Head of Company Communications, Olasumbo Olawaiye, also known as for sustained media engagement to give a boost to public consciousness and implementation of the framework.
The initiative follows different NCC measures geared toward making improvements to provider high quality. In March 2026, the commission directed mobile network operators to compensate subscribers in spaces the place community high quality falls underneath prescribed requirements.
The directive builds on the Quality of Service Regulations introduced in 2024, which established key efficiency signs for operators, overlaying name drop charges, name setup good fortune charges and community congestion.