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The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has asked Nigerian telecom consumers to ensure that the mobile devices or terminals they desired to purchase are already type-approved.
Verification is simple and can be quickly done online at the commission’s website: www.ncc.gov.ng before concluding any purchase.
Consumers should verify that mobile devices including tablet PCs, laptop and other mobile terminals are type-approved so as to avoid buying fake or counterfeit products, said NCC’s Director of Technical Standard and Network Integrity, Engr Bako Wakil.
According to the telecom regulator, the “type approval process is to ensure, checkmate and reduce the importation and usage of sub-standard telecommunications devices in the country.”
He said if substandard mobile devices are not disallowed, they could undermine the overall performance of the industry and destroy consumers’ confidence.
Substandard handsets can radiate beyond the specified or required percentage or radiation thereby causing harms to the user.
His words: “Oftentimes, telecom consumers complain of poor network services while unknown to them, it is the quality of their mobile devices that is the cause of the problem. This is the reason the commission is appealing to every consumer to check the NCC website before purchasing any model of their desired devices.
“We have model number list of the type-approved mobile devices either mobile phones, Tablets, Laptops Or any devices that will be connected to the national network.”
To raise awareness on the need for type-approval, the NCC, last year, hosted a workshop to sensitise and educate stakeholders including licensees and consumers.
Wakil explained that sensitisation exercises are designed to allow the commission effectively regulate the industry by ensuring that compliance on the part of licensees to extant industry type approval regulation. The ultimate objective is to ensure industry interoperability, quality of service (QoS) and safety, he added.
