The Nigerian Telecommunications Commission yesterday disclosed that
about 250 million substandard phones were sold annually in the country.
The
acting Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Umar Danbatta,
who gave the figure during a stake holders meeting on ‘ Combating
Counterfeit and Substandard ICT Devices Programme in Abuja, noted that
the damaging impact of the substandard products on the economy cannot be
quantified in socio-economic terms.
Specifically, he lamented
the damaging effects of the products on a broad spectrum of the national
life, saying that the ugly development poses grave danger to the
health, safety and privacy of buyers and the nation’s environment.
He
said” counterfeiting is a growing economic problem affecting a wide
range of products in the ICT sector, mobile phones are especially
targeted with some 250 million counterfeits sold annually. This number
constitutes about 15% to 20% of the global mobile phone market.
“Apart
from the obvious negative economic impact of this ugly trend on the
manufacturers of genuine products, government, authorized dealers which
include brand evaluation, loss of revenue, copyright and trademark
infringement, unfair competition, loss of tax, cost of compliance with
applicable national legislation, national security and loss of
employment opportunities.
“This menace also poses danger to the
health and safety of consumers equally breaching the privacy of
consumers. Collective efforts is urgently needed to curtail
counterfeiting in ICT,” Danbatta added.
Also speaking, director
EMEA Mobile Manufacturers Forum, Thomas Barmuller, stressed the need to
address counterfeit phones due to the hazardous substances which he said
were not only a risk to safety, health and economic development,, but
was a tool used for transmission of deadly viruses.
According to
him, investigations has shown that the incidence of malware, spyware and
SMS Trojans has increased dramatically especially with the usage of
fake smart phones.
He however called for increased consumer
education through communication strategy both at the national and
regional levels, to create awareness on the negative effects of
counterfeit phones so as to enable consumers, manufacturers and
operators link to a trustworthy source.
He added that, “it is
necessary to work with stake holders to address the situation by
developing communication campaigns, build awareness and support reforms
in key markets.”
