Efforts by Nokia, Samsung on cloned handsets start to pay off in East Africa

31.07.2012
Efforts by handset makers Nokia and Samsung to get governments in Eastern and Southern Africa to ban counterfeit phones are beginning to pay off, with Kenya set to ban the clone devices starting in September.

However, Kenya's biggest trading partner, Uganda, has not made a decision on the fake handsets, which have eaten away market share of major players like Nokia and Samsung -- the two biggest handset players in the region.

Imported counterfeits mostly come from Asian countries, such as China, India, Dubai, Indonesia, Thailand and Taiwan as well as African countries like Nigeria and South Africa.

The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) is set to switch off all cloned handsets by September, identifying legitimate and cloned phones by using International Mobile Equipment Identity or IMEI number printed in the phones and recorded in the GSM Association database.

However, the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) has not indicated they will follow suit, despite the likelihood that the banned handsets in Kenya may end up flooding Uganda -- a development that will further distort the mobile phone market in the country, leading to loss of revenue for handset manufacturers as well tax revenue for the government.

The impending ban of fake phones in Kenya could also prompt a flood of the devices in markets in Rwanda, DR Congo, South Sudan, Tanzania, Burundi and Zambia.