Downtown Kampala is a hub of business transactions in Uganda and with the increase in internet penetration most citizens are acquiring smartphones. The traders have mastered the game by importing smartphone that have the latest technology but unfortunately about 40% of these are fake phones according to a 2014 survey by the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC). The executive director of the Commission, Mr Godfrey Mutabazi, has said they have installed an equipment to detect fake phones on the market.
In July, UCC confirmed that they are in that they are in the final stages of switching off fake phones. About a year ago UCC had set a 3 month deadline where it assured the public that all fake phones will be disconnected. The UCC ED has now come out to say that
We have already installed equipment, which is going to detect counterfeit phones so that at the point of purchase, you check it with a telecom company and you are told whether its genuine or not. That will help eliminate that counterfeit or second hand phone that may be purchased at that level.
Mutabaazi revealed this information about the status of tracking fake phones at the opening of a regional preparatory meeting for the World Telecommunications Standardisation Assembly (WTSA) 2020 in Entebbe on Tuesday. WTSA brings together African players in the telecommunications industry, including government representatives, experts, private sector players and academia to brainstorm on matters of interest ahead of the WTSA in Hyderabad, India, in November next year. The ED further said;
As ICTs continue to transform the way we live, through the proliferation of OTT services and value added services, among others, universal standards are required to streamline connectivity, mobile finance, counterfeit devices, spam and cyber security, internet and other things.
The commission procured the fake phone machine called the Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR) that cost the carriers about USD 1 Million. The issue of the phone being stolen and used by a 3rd party without the owner’s consent will be history according to Bbosa. This means that when the CEIR is fully operational, once a phone is stolen and has been reported by the owner, it will be be blocked and the person who has stolen it will not be able to use it even if they have changed the SIM card, he added. Those customers who buy phones will be able to know if they have invested their hard earned money into fake phones.
This comes as good news to importers of genuine phones and could attract back investors both local and international into the smartphone business. If government scraps taxes off mobile phones, the move would make genuine mobile phones affordable to the majority of Ugandans and eliminate the sale of fake phones.
