ADDIS ABABA: Over 800,000 mobile phone subscribers had their phones switched off on Monday during the first day of the government's crackdown on counterfeit phones in Kenya, the government reported. Safaricom, the country's largest telecom operator, said that over 650,000 subscribers' phones were switched off by the move to register all telephones in the country. If subscribers did not register their phones before October 1, they faced a shut off. Essar Group and Telkom Kenya saw an estimated 45,000 phones and 72,000 phones, respectively, taken off air. The process official began on Sunday at midnight and is expected to switch off 2.5 million handsets with the largest number being within the Safaricom network. Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK), the industry regulator, had issued the directive to the industry compelling all service providers to ensure that counterfeit phones were blocked from accessing Kenyan mobile networks with effect from September 20.
