The Nigerian Communications Commission is considering the deployment of device management system to tackle the use unapproved devices in networks across the country.
The Head, Wireless Network Unit, NCC, Mr Chukwuma Nwaiwu, disclosed this in an interview with our correspondent on the sidelines of a sensitisation programme in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital.
The device management system has the capacity to detect counterfeit devices including handsets.
It can also be programmed to blacklist stolen devices and reduce the menace of stolen handsets in the telecommunications industry.
Nwaiwu said that the device had become imperative as an option, given the failure of an operator licensed to blacklist stolen phones to take off.
He said some network challenges sometimes experienced during telephone calls were as a result of counterfeit and substandard devices.
Nwaiwu said, “Substandard products are below the required standards. It is sometimes a replica of a genuine product carrying its form factor, but does not carry its explicit trademark. It is difficult to say that it infringes on the mark of a particular brand.
“Counterfeit carries the trademark logo of the original brand, its form factor, but it does not have the intrinsic value or quality of the original device.”
He said that substandard products also posed dangers to the economy because it undermined investment in manufacturing.
Speaking at the event, the Head of Zonal Operations, Helen Obi, regretted the proliferation of non-type approved handsets and other devices in the Nigerian market.
Obi who was represented by Principal Manager, Zonal Operations, Mr Ekisola Oladisun, said the type-approved handsets improved network integrity.
She added that they also protect telecommunication network from terminal equipment connected to it.