Mobile phone users query disposal of fake handsets

ANNE ROBI

MOBILE phone users, whose handsets were recently switched off by the Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority (TCRA) on the ground that they were fakes, have asked the government to intervene over their disposal.

In interviews with the ‘Sunday News’ after the telecoms regulator disconnected their fake mobile phones on June 16, the majority of people who turned up to buy original handsets at the telecommunication companies hesitated to dispose their fake products at the companies once they were issued with original ones in fear of being refurbished to benefit the telecom companies.

“We need a clear statement on where exactly we should dispose the counterfeit mobile phones. We should be told what the authorities will do with them,” one Raphael Kisu, a resident of Dar es Salaam, told this newspaper.

The concern rose after some telecommunications companies, including Tigo Tanzania, started offering the affected people with free, genuine internet-enabled phones upon presenting their fake phones at their shops.

Several residents, especially those with fake handsets, hesitated to go for the offer in fear that their counterfeit phones could have given the telecommunication companies a big deal. “We doubt the offer.

Our phones (counterfeit handsets) might be a big deal and benefit the telecoms that did not purchase them,” said one of the residents who turned up to buy an original phone at Tigo customer care centre in the city.

The residents instead expressed the need for the government to give an official statement over the disposal of the fake phones and further procedures.

“We should know where and why we are disposing the counterfeit products since we bought them with our monies from the markets that are fully recognised by the government,’’ one interviewee commented. He wondered why they (customers/owners) should be punished for buying phone marked ‘original’ in a market infiltrated by fake phones,’’ lamented a Tigo customer whose phone was disconnected.

TCRA Head of Corporate Communications, Mr Innocent Mungy, told the ‘Sunday News’ over the phone that the telecoms regulator had agreed with the telecoms firms to set up collection points at their shopping centres to make it easier for the customers to dispose of their fake devices.

Mr Mungy warned that it was dangerous for the owners of the fake handsets to keep them since such phones contain toxic devices that might be environment-unfriendly.

He said the authority and other agencies, including environment conservation agencies are working on how to dispose of the products once they are discarded. The TCRA official opined that the phones could be recycled to recover other metals that can be re-used in the production of electronic goods.

According to environmental experts, recycling of counterfeit products was the best way to maintain environmental health. About 630,000 counterfeit mobile phones were disconnected by TCRA on June 16, causing communication difficulties among owners.