Nigeria is tightening the enforcement of the rules that keep counterfeit and non-compliant phones off its networks, one device at a time.
The Nigerian Communications Commission says it is "strengthening the monitoring and enforcement of its existing Type Approval requirements through technology-enabled device verification", and has published a guide setting out what importers, distributors, dealers and retailers must now do.
There are three requirements. A business importing, selling or installing telecommunications equipment must hold the applicable Sales and Installation licence. The device model must have obtained NCC Type Approval, confirming that it meets applicable technical standards. And each individual device, identified by its International Mobile Equipment Identity, must have successfully completed verification.
Type Approval applies to the model rather than the unit, and is usually obtained by the manufacturer or by the importer responsible for introducing the model to the Nigerian market. Verification applies to the unit.
Businesses register on an industry portal at verifymydevice.gov.ng and upload the IMEI of each device, individually or by bulk upload. Dual-SIM devices normally carry two IMEIs and both must be submitted. The platform performs validation checks, including checks for IMEIs that have been submitted before.
Stock already held before the arrangements commenced must go through the portal too, with supporting documentation such as purchase invoices, inventory records or customs papers showing when the devices were acquired.
Smaller retailers and micro-importers may qualify for a class licence, applications for which currently go to a dedicated email address rather than the Commission's eServices portal, accompanied by corporate registration documents, a passport photograph and evidence of a 10,000 naira payment. Larger dealers and manufacturers apply through the Licensing Application Management System.
Devices with unresolved compliance issues should not be supplied or sold. Businesses that cannot clear a problem through the portal are told to contact the Commission on 315.
The Commission also states, twice in the same guide, that an unsuccessful verification does not necessarily mean the device is counterfeit.
The whole mechanism rests on the IMEI, so it is worth reading the Commission's own instructions for obtaining one. Under frequently asked questions, the guide addresses how a business can find the IMEI of the devices in its stock: "Dial *#06# on the device to display its IMEI number(s)."
This newspaper has no criticism of the instruction, which is correct, and which is how everybody finds an IMEI. It notes only what the arrangement therefore is. A device suspected of being counterfeit is asked, through its own interface, which device it is, and the answer it gives is the thing that gets checked.
A cloned handset is by definition one presenting an identity belonging to another handset. Our analysts observe that such a device will pass the dial-and-read stage with complete accuracy. It was built to.
The portal does guard against duplicates: where an IMEI has already been successfully verified, no further submission is required. Read in the order stock actually moves, this means the first device to reach the portal with a given number establishes the number, and the genuine article arriving behind it is the one that generates an error for its supplier to resolve.
The Commission is clear that an unsuccessful verification does not necessarily mean a device is counterfeit. It does not say what a successful one means.