NAIROBI: In an effort to crack down on counterfeit mobile phones in the country, the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) has demanded all mobile phone service providers ensure the massive influx of Chinese mobiles are not used in the country. However, despite the efforts from the CCK to crack down on the new, illegal but cheap, handsets, analysts are not convinced the new directive will have much of an impact on the country's mobile users, who are not able to purchase the high-priced mobiles that companies often offer. “If we look at where people are buying their phones, if they go for the more expensive phones based on their economic power, they go for the cheap $80 Android, but other than that, Kenyans simply want a device that works and they don't care where it comes from,” said Uthman Lingani, a Mombasa-based telecom analyst with a local firm. “I doubt telecom operators will crack down, because it would mean losses in profits.” Like other African countries, counterfeit mobile handsets have for years been imported into Kenya, which is East Africa's largest telecom market. The phones being targeted to be switched off by operators are those whose international mobile equivalent identity (IMEI) are not recognizable by networks. These phones are extremely cheap and have actually done an excellent job in connecting a larger percentage of the population, industry experts say. This means that if the CCK gets their way and these phones are turned off, hundreds of thousands of Kenyans will be out of a mobile. BM
