The governments intention to wipe out counterfeit mobile phones from the market is well on course, Information Permanent Secretary Dr. Bitange Ndemo has said. Speaking at the launch of Safaricom's Huawei 100Y phone, the PS said that the shut down of the counterfeit mobile phones could start sooner than earlier anticipated.

Ndemo also said that the  SIM registration exercise which was slowed down earlier will be reinforced beginning July. By the end of September 2010 when the last registration round was put on hold, about 62 percent of the estimated 20 million mobile users had registered their numbers. Safaricom had registered 71 % of its subscribers, Airtel Kenya (then Zain)  had registered 54 %, Essars Yu Mobile 7 % and Telkom Orange had managed to register 4 % of its users.

At the event, Safaricom announced that only 3% of its subscribers, representing about 900,000 SIM cards were not registered. Communications Commission of Kenya acting Director General Francis Wangusi said the regulator had not been backed by the law before, but now it was ready. The legal backing will see unregistered users switched off as it empowers the CCK to take action against operators connecting unregistered users.

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