The Consumer Federation of Kenya (Cofek) is planning to take mobile operators to court in a bid to stop them from switching off counterfeit handsets. Stephen Mutoro, the secretary-general of Cofek said that the procedure taken to deal with the counterfeit phones had omissions and that the consumer watchdog is contesting the move based on the procedure which goes against consumers’ constitutional rights.“We are not opposed to efforts to fight crime but the manner in which the process is being undertaken is punitive to consumers. There has been minimal consultation with consumers,” he said, speaking to The Standard. Mr. Mutoro blames the state for failing to protect consumers from counterfeits, saying that it is a responsibility of the government to protect the borders and the markets from unscrupulous business people.

The country’s Information industry regulator, CCK earlier set September 30^th 2012 as the deadline for switching off fake handsets. This is the third time the regulator is attempting to wipe out fake handsets after the last two moves were thwarted by lack of legal backing. The regulator says that this time round, there is a legal backing for the process. However, the argument by Cofek is that service providers have an unwritten contract to provide uninterrupted service, a contract that is not based on the kind of device a consumer possesses. Another argument, according to Mr. Mutoro is that relying on Global Satellite for Mobile Communications database as proof on authenticity of a device, which is what CCK is doing, is contestable.

Cofek had previously accused mobile operators of failure to deliver according to the set service benchmarks in their licenses. The failure of mobile operators, Cofek says, is a thing that the country’s regulator has failed to address. Some of the problems listed by the consumer watchdog include poor network quality, lack of full disclosure on promotional tariffs and exorbitant charges on data service.

// < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ //