Kenya-Counterfeit phones - Mobile subscribers using counterfeit handsets have until end of April next year to replace them with genuine ones. This follows a decision by the Communication Commission of Kenya to extend the December 31 deadline to disconnect counterfeits by four months ,as it completes compiling handsets information and give consumers more time to buy genuine phones. The regulator ,mobile operators and local vendors have recently acquired access to Global System of Mobile Association (GSMA) database which will enable distinguish the counterfeits from authentic phones in this market. GSMA has the widest database on genuine mobile handsets made. This will avert the possibility of switching off some genuine handsets in the process.

Acting CCK Director General Francis Wangusi said the industry was also considering putting in place a system through which subscribers would be able to interrogate a central database via SMS to verify whether their devices are genuine or not. "The extension will also allow mobile operators to undertake the requisite technical preparations in readiness for disconnecting counterfeit handsets,"said Wangusi. This is the second time CCK is postponing the deadline as it had first ordered mobile operators to switch-off counterfeit phones by September 30 ,but mobile operators asked for more time to prepare.

According to industry statistics, close to 2.4 million mobile phones in the market are counterfeit, representing 9.39 per cent of the active mobile devices in the country. The operators would lose billions of revenues if a section of their subscribers were switched off. The regulator is also planning to undertake a mass awareness campaign before April . "The extension will provide the affected mobile subscribers with more time to replace their mobile handsets in view of the prevailing hard economic realities in the country," he said.

Safaricom Director of Corporate Affairs,Nzioka Waita said there are nearly one million devices with non-recognized IMEI on its network. "The GSMA database will help identify which among these are really legitimate , there is a general consensus in the industry to get the widest possible data to avoid inconvenience to subscribers,"he said. Safaricom ,which has the biggest subscriber base, would be most affected by the disconnection but it says its in support of the switch-off next year. "It is very expensive to maintain counterfeits phones on our networks, they spoil the customer experience,"said Waita.

Winfred Kagwe

Nairobi Star/23/12/2011