The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has warned telecommunication consumers against the usage of substandard handsets.

Mr Joseph Atoyebi, the Deputy Director, Consumer Affairs of the commission said this on Thursday in Abakaliki during a Consumer Outreach Programme.‎

Acording to him, such handsets were responsible for the various network-related problems they experienced during dialing or receiving of calls.

“Consumers should use the handsets outlined in our manual as they have been certified to be efficient for telecommunication usage,” he said.

Atoyebi also urged consumers who use smart phones to be aware of its complexities, which were responsible for the difficulties experienced while using them.

“Many consumers complain that their data and credit are illegally deducted by service providers but they should understand that smart phones have various complex attributes.

“Smart phones should be data-disabled when not in use as they automatically upgrade themselves and can deduct data in the process,” he said.

The issue of quality of service has dominated discourses since the advent of the mobile telecom revolution in Nigeria. Many experts have identified substandard phones, equipment, inadequate bandwidth occasioned by inability of telecom operators to expand their networks to match demand, non-expansion of other genre of telecom services especially the CDMAs among others as reasons for this.