"We are doing our best in tandem with the standards body, Uganda Revenue Authority and the police, but are not likely to eliminate all 'fake' phones existent in the market," Fred Otunnu, the Corporate Communications officer at UCC said in an email response.

Currently, Uganda is one of the countries in the region with the highest rate of substandard mobile phone devices, a situation that has been attributed to the delay by legislators to enact the anti-counterfeit law. About 30 percent of all purported Nokia mobile phones sold in the local market are counterfeits, compared to 10 percent in Kenya, according to industry insiders.

Market observers believe that if CCK implements the deactivation of all SIM-cards used in counterfeit handsets, the supply in Uganda of cloned handsets could go as high as 40 percent, in effect increasing related revenue and health issues. Counterfeit phones are not made with regard to any health regulations.

Nokia officials have been cited in press reports pointing to estimates from the Kenyan Anti Counterfeit Authority that suggest the country loses around $32 million annually through tax evasion on the sale of fake handsets, and estimates that the East Africa region could be losing as much as $200m a year.

Nokia has meanwhile been active in lobbying governments to reduce taxes on mobile handsets, a move that the Kenyan government made and which has been credited in leading to a great reduction in the number of counterfeit devices.