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Kenya Delays Plans to Block Counterfeit Mobile Phones
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Kenya's telecoms regulator has delayed the deadline for networks to block counterfeit mobile phones until next April, citing the lack of necessary equipment at the networks to detect the fake handsets.
The ban was due to come into effect at the end of this year, having already been delayed from the end of September.
"The technology and equipment that we have cannot fully combat counterfeit handsets and a consensus has been reached to push the switch off deadline to April to give us time to put in place all the logistics required," Acting CCK director-general Francis Wangusi told the Business Daily newspaper.
According to CCK statistics, 9.4 % of the 25.2 million subscribers in the country are using counterfeit handsets. Counterfeit handsets come with duplicated or reprogrammed IMEI numbers, making it difficult to track stolen phones or handsets used to perpetrate criminal activities.
The handset manufacturers have been pushing for some time for a clamp down on fake handsets in the country, where it is claimed that over a third of phones being sold now are counterfeit models.
Earlier this year, a Nokia anti-counterfeiting expert, Mr. Abdulla Hasayen claimed that Kenya's government could be losing up to KES3.2bn (US$38 million) in taxes through influx of illegally-imported counterfeit mobile phones.
On the web: Business Daily
Tags: [Kenya]
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