General Standards Organisation of Nigeria will soon order telecom companies to switch off networks from the over 12.6 million counterfeit phones in circulation. This will be ensured by using the IMEI number of phones to track their authenticity. In 2013 alone, over N5 billion was spent in Nigeria on the importation of substandard mobile phones, adding that as at April this year, Nigeria currently has a GSM subscriber base of 126,958,904; and 10 percent of these subscribers (12.6 million) use counterfeit phones. Dr. Joseph Odumodu, Director General Standards Organisation of Nigeria , SON is working out them plan with Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, and Consumer Protection Council; the phone operators, and “Soon government shall announce the directive to switch the fake phones off the networks.” “As more countries switch-off counterfeit phones, the people behind this scourge will keep moving to countries that are yet to adopt this solution, hence the urgent need to address the situation,” he said.ns to patronise our dealers and not road-side phone vendors.”
