Nigeria aims to end mobile phone theft

Mobile phone theft in Nigeria could become a thing of the past by the end of the year, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

Addressing participants at the 47th Consumer Parliament session - held this week at Awka, Anambra State - NCC Chief Executive Dr. Ernest Ndukwe announced the finalization of plans for a handset antitheft system that would render any stolen mobile phone handset in the country useless.

The NCC is developing the tool in collaboration with the country's mobile phone operators, and a licensee has been chosen to manage the system.

The antitheft system will require all mobile operators, including those that use GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) and CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) networks, to link their data to the system, Ndukwe explained.

He expects the service to be operational by December.