The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has developed a cell software that permits authorised business stakeholders to scan telephones’ International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers and add gadget data to its verification platform. The regulator is stepping up efforts to implement gear approval necessities.
The fee introduced the event at a media briefing on Thursday when it mentioned the appliance is designed to simplify compliance for producers, importers, distributors and cellphone sellers.
The app kinds a part of the NCC’s Device Checker initiative, which permits customers to verify whether or not gadgets have obtained regulatory approval earlier than buy. The fee says the broader platform is meant to assist curb the circulation of counterfeit, cloned, unauthorised and different non-compliant gadgets in Nigeria.
TechCabal’s analysis of the gadget verification system on October 20, 2026, had examined how the nation’s advanced cellphone distribution community may complicate enforcement. Devices transfer by producers, main importers, regional distributors and smaller retailers earlier than reaching customers, making it tough to determine accountability when a tool fails regulatory checks.
The new software supplies an extra device for gathering gadget data throughout this chain.
The Commission says its “user-friendly” Device Checker software “enables authorised stakeholders to quickly scan device IMEIs and upload information directly to the platform.”
In apply, the app is meant to enhance effectivity and ease compliance for authorised stakeholders. This provides the fee a technique to accumulate gadget data from companies throughout the provision chain and verify compliance with its Type Approval necessities.
The regulator additionally reported progress in licensing and regularising cellphone sellers in Kano State, alongside sensitisation engagements with importers and different business members in Lagos and elsewhere.
The actual measure is whether or not the app can assist the regulator hint non-compliant telephones again by the provision chain.
