The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has urged consumers to verify the authenticity of mobile phones before purchase, using its device checker code *315# or the NCC website. The service confirms whether a device has received type approval and has been registered for use on Nigerian networks.
Eduyemi Ogoh, NCC’s Director of Technical Standards and Network Integrity, told Arise Television’s Newsnight that the check is especially important for second‑hand phones or those imported from abroad. “Before you buy the phone, dial *315# and confirm that the phone is fully verified before you pay,” he said.
Ogoh explained that the NCC introduced the checker to fulfil its statutory duty under the Nigerian Communications Act 2003, protect consumers and address complaints about poor network service linked to mobile devices. “The whole intent of type approval is to ensure that every device coming into the country is genuine and works the way it should work,” he added.
To use the checker, buyers dial *315# and enter the phone’s International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI). A device that fails the check is not necessarily counterfeit; type approval is a laboratory test of a model, while verification confirms that a particular IMEI has been registered in the NCC system. Manufacturers, vendors or importers, not buyers, are responsible for obtaining type approval.
Devices that were already operating on Nigerian networks as of midnight on 6 October have been onboarded and verified. The NCC has registered about 231 million such devices, Ogoh said, and stressed that consumers should not discard phones that have already been verified.
Addressing privacy concerns, Ogoh said the checker uses only the IMEI and does not give the NCC access to a user’s calls, contacts, messages or stored information. Consumers with complaints about the device checker can dial 315, while the NCC’s general consumer complaint line is 622.
<small>Source: Vanguard News — read the original story there.</small>
