We will not be switching off 'fake' phones immediately - UCC

The said campaign, which will see UCC working with all stakeholders in the communication sector to get rid of counterfeit/illegal cell phones on the Ugandan market, is entering its second phase today, and this involves consumer awareness as the key strategy.

Rebecca Mukite, the head of public and international relations at UCC, while clarifying media reports that the commission is to switch off some 6 million cellphones, reminded the public that counterfeit cell phones expose phone users to a cocktail of hazards, which UCC hopes to eliminate. However, they must start with sensitisation.

She adds that UCC’s strategy is benchmarked on what is happening in other countries worldwide and in the East African region. According to her, the prevailing social aspects of the campaign are the biggest stumbling block to its success.

“There has been a lot of aggregation of knowledge at the technical level, and the networks are now more intelligent than ever and if it was technology alone the issue would be handled already,” Mukite said.

Mukite says that with the growing dependence on mobile phones and other IT gadgets, especially after the COVID-19 lockdown, using brute force, like the sudden switching off of fake phones, would have dire consequences.

Helping device users

The campaign, she reveals, will focus on helping all device users to get to know their devices very well, adding that the illegitimate devices have more than the permissible levels of toxic metal components which can harm the environment when disposed of, as well as cyber vulnerabilities which make them susceptible to hacking, and this has affected so many users of such phones through the widespread network loss.

In this phase, unlike the first phase, which dealt with key players such as network operators, government agencies and the dealers, Mukite says they are going to “soak” the users with a lot of information to drive behavioral change among the Ugandan phone users.

According to Mukite, such devices include those with invalid International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI), those with tampered as well as those which have not been type-approved by the UCC.