Tanzania sees drop in counterfeit phone users

The number of users of counterfeit mobile phones in Tanzania has dropped in four months from 30 percent in December last year to 13 percent in March, the country's communication regulatory said Friday.

"The drop in the use of counterfeit mobile phones has been caused by the approaching deadline to switch off all fake mobile phones on June 16, 2016," said the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) acting Director General, James Kilaba.

The drop was positive because TCRA will not change the date for switching-off the phones, Kilaba told a news conference in the east African nation's commercial capital Dar es Salaam.

He attributed the achievement to the International Mobile Station Equipment Identity system (IMEI) which the country launched last December to identify counterfeit mobile phones.

"There are also ongoing awareness campaigns among the public over the importance of assessing their phones to establish whether they are original or counterfeit," said Kilaba.

However, Kilaba said there were dishonest traders who were reducing prices of the counterfeit phones in a bid to lure customers.

In March, this year, TCRA said it will soon release figures on fake mobile phone handsets now being used in the east African nation, the region's second largest economy.

Innocent Mungy, TCRA communications manager, said a survey carried out in 2012 indicated that at least 38 percent of the handsets in use then were fake.

Many sub-standard and counterfeit mobile phone products entered the local market illegally and that it has been difficult to control such influx, said Mungy. Endit