By Matt Smith
DUBAI Oct 25 (Reuters) – A crackdown in Uganda on
counterfeit mobile phones because of safety issues will not slow
subscriber growth in the country, where mobile phone use jumped
to 60 percent this year.
Ruhakana Rugunda, Uganda’s Minister of Information and
Communications Technology, said the clampdown, which will see
fake handsets cut off from mobile networks from July 2013, was
needed to protect users.
“We have no problems about cleaning our system so we can
build our communications system on solid foundations,” Rugunda
told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference in Dubai.
About 30 percent of the East African country’s estimated 17
million mobile phones are counterfeits, according to study cited
by the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC).
Unlike phones from recognised manufacturers, counterfeit
phones are not tested to meet safety standards and so could
expose users to dangerous levels of radio frequencies as well as
battery leaks.
Call quality may also suffer because the handsets are not
configured correctly.
These fears prompted a region-wide crackdown, the UCC said,
with similar initiatives in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania.
Uganda subscribers must register their sim card with the
regulator by March 1 next year, which will then pair these with
the phones they are used in. Counterfeit phones will be
disconnected between July and December 2013.
Continued…
