[caption id="attachment_7154" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Assorted Mobile Phones (Photo: brickhousesecurity.com)"][/caption]

The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) says it will only go on with its plans to shut down counterfeit phones after the public has been fully informed about the exercise. CCK had named August as the date of carrying out the exercise.

The communications industry regulator had announced earlier that it will embark on vigorous awareness campaigns for the public against counterfeit phones. The awareness campaign which will be carried out in conjunction with major brands was expected to run for three months beginning May to the date of the shutting down exercise.

However, speaking today at the CCK Open Day, CCKs Atieno Ochola said that the regulator would make sure that the public is well informed on the purposes of carrying out the exercise before executing it. Ochola said that the commission has all information about functional mobile equipment in the country on the Equipment Identity Register's database.

There are 9 dominant mobile manufacturers who market their genuine products in Kenya. These include Nokia, Samsung, Ericsson, Huawei, ZTE, Tecno, iPhone, HTC and BlackBerry. Companies that have been affected by counterfeit products from the Chinese markets are Nokia and Samsung.

An estimated 3 million mobile phone users will be affected by the shut down exercise.