Acting UCC Executive Director, Fred Otunnu addressing the media on Tuesday.
Uganda Communications Commission has Tuesday launched a campaign dubbed ‘Simu Klear’ with a target of getting fake phones off the Ugandan market .
Under this campaign, a mobile phone user is able to establish the legitimacy of their gadget by dialing *197*4#.
Fred Otunnu, the Acting UCC Executive Director told the media that the campaign is aimed at eliminating or reducing gadgets that deny a user a quality of service such as drop calls and overheating, among others, in a bid to achieve customer satisfaction.
“We want to ensure that devices used by customers meet certain standards. ‘Simu klear’ will empower consumers to know whether their phone is legitimate or not,” Otunnu said.
According to Otunnu, there were a number of engagements with stakeholders to arrive at the decision to launch a campaign against fake phones.
After the launch, Otunnu says that attention will shift to sensitization.
“We want to engage now and going forward, the consumer. The user decides which devices they use but that can only come when they (consumers) are empowered,” Otunnu said. This is going to take six months.
However, Otunnu says that after the sensitization phase, fake phones will be switched off.
“We appreciate what the customers go through. So, to avoid a kind of shock implementation, we have allowed for all parties to change,” Otunnu said.
According to Otunnu, Uganda has nearly 6 million fake phones on the market. These are out of about 30 million phones logged onto the networks across the country.
Otunnu appealed to Ugandans to know their phone status, know what they are purchasing and where they are purchasing from, and obtain a receipt from a point of sale for reference purposes.
“After the six months, you will get a message on your phone saying that your phone is illegitimate and that you have a number of days to change,” Otunnu said.
He explained that whereas the Commission has a mandate to enforce for purposes of compliance for standards, the campaign will be carried out through sensitization, collaboration and engagement before “cut-off”.
“We want to achieve user satisfaction but above all, safety from these devices is paramount,” Otunnu noted.
It is estimated that there are 180 million fake phones world over and are sold globally per year and that this represents a potential loss of 45 billion euros to legitimate device manufacturers and governments.
