Substandard phones contribute to poor network - NCC

Nigerian mobile telephone service subscribers have been advised to ensure their handsets meet the prescribed standard specification set by the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) to guarantee good network service.

Tony Ojobo, NCC Director of Public Affairs, gave the advice on Monday in Abuja in an interview with NAN in Abuja.

'Substandard phones have contributed to the level of poor services because there is a certain required power in cell phones that would enable it to transmit signals,' he said.

Ojobo said that the use of substandard handsets by subscribers was responsible for poor network services in the country.

He said it was the mandate of the Commission to ensure that the quality of telecom equipment imported into the country were of international standard and tailored to meet the Nigerian environmental standards.

He said issues of sub-standard phones were of a concern to the Commission, and advised importers to ensure that their products fit into the country's standard.

'If the requirement is not met, then it will create problems in the network and that is why people call a particular number but cannot get through.

'This is not necessarily because there is no service but because their phones are not powered enough to sense signals because they are substandard.

'We are using this to reinstate that all vendors must be licenced by the Commission first and foremost. You can't sell anything without having the authorisation of the Commission,'' he said.

Ojobo said the NCC was working in collaboration with the Nigerian Customs Service in airports across the country to seize any contraband telecom products at their port of entry.

He said that vendors who failed to comply with the rules or found guilty of selling fake phones would be penalised.

'We are collaborating with the Nigeria Customs Service, where we have provided a list of approved phones.

'We, therefore, expect that at the port of entry any phone that did not meet the standard will be seized.

'I also suspect that sometimes some of these phones may have been smuggled in probably without passing through the entry points.

'I am aware that our compliance and enforcement unit have from time to time visited markets in search of substandard phones.

'Those equipment must be type approved by the Commission; if they are not, if our enforcement team goes out, they will seal up their premises and confiscate all their goods.

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