Chinese phones dominate Nigerian mobile market as approved models hit 2,112

The Nigerian Communications Commission(NCC)gave the approval for the addition of 151 new phone models from mobile manufacturers in the last two months.

With over 300 models in the last 15 years, Chinese phone brands have taken the lead as the largest phone model manufacturers.

Although other brands from Finland, France, America, India, Japan, Philippines, Taiwan, South Korea, South Africa and UAE made the list, the data on type-approved phones by the NCC revealed that Chinese mobile manufacturers currently dominate the mobile market.

The Nigerian Communications Act 2003 empowers the NCC to establish and enforce operational standards for all telecommunications equipment in Nigeria.

This is to ensure that these mobile phone manufacturers operate according to the operational guidelines in the Nigerian telecommunications environment. The problem that comes with unapproved phones which are in most cases, sub-standard or fake is that they are cheaper and thus, sell faster than the approved ones.

This prompted the need to vet and issue approvals for all mobile phones as confirmed by the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof Umar Danbatta, who issued a warning to Nigerians to avoid purchasing phones that are uncertified by the regulator.

As of February 2023, the Nigerian mobile market had over 226 million active mobile subscriptions and this has made the country a big market thus leading to the influx of mobile devices from manufacturers across the world into the country.

The number of mobile phones approved by the NCC stood at 1,961 as of January 2023. Checks showed that 151 new phone models were approved between January and April as figures later increased to 2,112.

Some of the phone models include Tecno Mobile, Nokia, Wiko, Samsung, Panasonic, Huawei, Asus, Apple, HP, Google, Gionee, Alcatel, and Oppo among others but Tecno led the pack with over 300 models of its phones approved.