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Kenyan Clampdown on Fake Mobile Phones Faces Court Challenge
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A consumer watchdog is threatening to go to court to stop the Kenya's telecoms regulator from ordering the mobile networks to start blocking counterfeit handsets.
The watchdog says there are glaring omissions in the process, which it claims gpes against consumers' constitutional rights. The Consumer Federation of Kenya (Cofek) said that it will contest the process based on the procedures taken.
Cofek claims that despite considerable notice given by the regulator, and two cancelled previous deadline to start blocking handsets - that there has still been insufficient consultation with the public.
The consumer watchdog is also concerned that the use of a GMSA supplied IMEI serial number database may not be complete and could cut off legitimate handsets.
The latest deadline for the networks to start blocking fake handsets is the end of September.
According to CCK statistics, at the end of last year, 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. Last 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.
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