NCC advises Nigerians to check phones with *315# before buying

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has advised Nigerians to check their phones using the code *315# before making any payments. They warned that unverified phones could be fake or of poor quality.

Edoyemi Ogoh, who is the Director of Technical Standards and Network Integrity at NCC, said this verification will help protect consumers from buying counterfeit devices. He added that it would also stop substandard phones from affecting the network quality for other users.

“Before you buy a phone, dial *315# and confirm that the phone is fully verified before you pay,” Mr Ogoh said.

He spoke on Friday during an interview on News Night on Arise News. He explained that the NCC launched a new Device Checker on 7 October.

Reasons for the verification check

Mr Ogoh gave three reasons for this verification process. First is to comply with the law. Second is to protect consumers. The third is to improve service quality.

He mentioned that the Nigerian Communications Act 2003 requires telecom equipment to get type approval. This approval ensures that devices meet Nigerian standards.

“The whole intent of that is to ensure that every device coming into the country is genuine and works the way it should work,” he said.

The second reason is to protect consumers from spending money on fake products.

“When you’re spending your hard-earned money buying a particular device, you want to be sure that the device you’re buying is actually the genuine device,” he said.

“You’re not paying over the odds for a device that is fake or an imitation of the real thing.”

The third reason relates to service quality. Mr Ogoh explained that many complaints about network issues are linked to the devices people use.

“We knew that we had to do something very important, in line with the statutory requirement, protecting the consumers, as well as ensuring that quality of service is assured for every user,” he said.

He emphasized that using unapproved devices can affect not just the owners but also other users in the area.

“When consumers use devices that are not type approved, it does not just impact them, it also impacts others within the same environment,” he said.

What if a phone fails the check?

Mr Ogoh said if a phone does not pass the Device Checker, it doesn't mean it is fake.

“Not necessarily,” he said when asked about this. He explained that the check has two stages: type approval for a phone model and verification of each individual device.

Type approval involves tests to check if a phone model meets Nigerian standards and can connect to service providers’ networks.

“Once that phone is switched on, it can connect to the service provider’s networks and can actually talk properly,” he said. This approval is done once for each phone model.

The second stage is to verify each unit of an approved model.

“Someone can type approve a particular model, and about 100,000 units of that model can be brought into the country,” he said.

“So each particular unit is now meant to be assured.” Mr Ogoh said importers must register their International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers with the NCC.

“It’s only when that process is done that we can say the full end-to-end process for verification is completed,” he said.

Importers, manufacturers, and vendors are responsible for this, not the buyers.

“It’s not for buyers to carry it out,” he said.

What about older phones?

Mr Ogoh said people with phones that were already active before 7 October do not need to do anything.

“Every single device that was active on the networks at midnight on October 6th was fully onboarded and verified,” he said.

“We had about 231 million devices. So they are verified.”

The new verification process is for devices arriving in Nigeria after 7 October. These devices must be checked for approval and registered.

Mr Ogoh also said phones identified as cloned before the new system started will not be blocked.

“Prior to October 7, the device checker was not in place in terms of requiring Nigerians to check before they buy,” he said.

“We’re not going to punish them to say, ‘You bought something fake, take it out.’ So those phones are fine.”

He did not say what would happen to newly imported devices that are confirmed to be cloned. He advised buyers to check a phone’s verification status before they pay.

NCC addresses privacy worries

Mr Ogoh talked about privacy concerns. He said the Device Checker only uses a phone’s IMEI to check its status.

“We don’t know that a particular device belongs to you from you dialing that, because the only information that is utilized is just the IMEI,” he said.

“We don’t have access to your communications. We don’t know your contacts, your messages or anything that you stored.”

He added that the system is only for checking if a device is real and verified.

“It’s purely to verify the genuineness or otherwise of the device,” he said.

A verified phone is genuine and should work as expected.

“You are not going to get surprises,” he said.

Consumers can call *315# to check their phone’s status. The NCC’s complaint line is 622.

The commission reminded consumers to only use the official *315# code and its website for checks. They warned against sharing verification codes with sellers or callers.