Use *315# to check phones before buying, NCC tells Nigerians

… Commission states check verifies type approval, confirmation for Nigerian networks

… 231m gadgets in usage before October 7 currently confirmed

By Juliet Umeh

The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has actually advised Nigerians to inspect the confirmation status of smart phones before purchasing them, utilizing its gadget checker code, * 315 #.

The commission stated purchasers might likewise utilize the gadget checker on its site to develop whether a phone had actually gotten type approval and had actually been validated for usage on Nigerian mobile networks.

Speaking on Newsnight on Arise Television, the NCC’s Director of Technical Standards and Network Integrity, Eduyemi Ogoh, stated the check was especially crucial for individuals purchasing pre-owned phones or gadgets imported from abroad.

“Before you purchase the phone, dial * 315 # and verify that the phone is totally validated before you pay,” he stated.

Ogoh stated the NCC presented the checker to satisfy its statutory duty under the Nigerian Communications Act 2003, safeguard customers and address problems about bad network service connected to mobile phones.

“The entire intent of is to guarantee that every gadget entering the nation is authentic and works the method it ought to work,” he stated.

He stated customers ought to be positive that they were investing their cash on authentic gadgets, instead of “an old phone gadget that is phony or a replica of the genuine thing.”

Ogoh stated the commission had actually discovered that some service quality grievances were attributable to the gadgets customers were utilizing. Unapproved or poorly working phones might impact both their users and others in the very same location, he included.

To inspect a phone, purchasers can call * 315 # and follow the triggers to enter its International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI), a special number appointed to each mobile phone. Ogoh stated purchasers might examine a phone’s IMEI before paying, consisting of by asking the seller to supply it.

A gadget that stops working the check is not always fake, he stated. Type approval includes lab screening of a phone design to develop that it satisfies relevant requirements and can run appropriately on Nigerian networks. Confirmation validates that a specific gadget has actually been signed up on the NCC’s gadget checker system utilizing its IMEI.

“Type approval is done simply as soon as per design,” Ogoh stated, including that producers, suppliers or importers, not purchasers, was accountable for acquiring it.

The boosted compliance procedure uses to gadgets brought into the nation from October 7. Ogoh stated gadgets currently running on Nigerian networks at midnight on October 6 had actually been onboarded and confirmed. The NCC had actually signed up about 231 million such gadgets, he stated.

“We understand that individuals have actually invested their cash to do this, so you can not be asking to go and toss those phones out,” he stated.

Ogoh likewise looked for to ease personal privacy issues, stating the checker utilizes just the IMEI to confirm a gadget and does not offer the NCC access to a user’s calls, contacts, messages or kept details.

He stated confirmation might assist purchasers prevent unanticipated gadget issues and develop whether bad service was triggered by an unapproved phone.

Customers with problems about the gadget checker can call 315, while the NCC’s customer grievance line is 622.