Nigeria: Government to terminate 12 million fake devices

The Nigerian government has said that it is in the process of ordering telecom companies, across the country, to effectively place a kill order on over 12 Million counterfeit mobile devices using telecom networks in the country.

The mobile devices will be removed from networks by using the device’s International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number. According to Communications Week, Joseph Odumodu, Director General of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, stated that: “in 2013 alone, over NGN 5 billion was spent in Nigeria on the importation of substandard mobile phones.”

Odumodu added that: “By April, Nigeria had a GSM subscriber base of 126.96 million, of whom 10 percent or 12.6 million were using counterfeit phones.”

“The enforcement will boost consumer rights protection, increase revenue for the government via taxes, increase revenue for genuine mobile phone manufacturers as well as improve GSM networks in the country,” Odumodu concluded.

Darryl Linington