Fake Nokia phones set for big trouble
Manufacturers of cellular phone handsets of Nokia brands envisage mounting a countrywide crackdown on counterfeit handsets purported to be manufactured by the firm.
Communications manager with the firm in East and Southern Africa, Doroth Ooko, said her firm would collaborate with the Tanzania Revenue Authority and the Tanzania Bureau of Standards in the crackdown.
Announcing the crackdown during a campaign on internet services available through the Nokia handsets, Ooko said the crackdown would mainly target cellular phone handsets shops.
Her firm was in final talks with the parastatals to wage the campaign that would see all counterfeit handsets bearing Nokia registered trade mark withdrawn from the market and being condemned, she said.
The objective of the crackdown, according to Ooko, is to ensure only genuine Nokia handsets were in the market for loyal customers of the brands to buy products, which had value for their money.
Counterfeits Nokia products were not only reducing her firms’ share in the market, but also were denying the government of revenue, as the majority of the counterfeit products were smuggled into the country, she explained.
The campaign would be followed by an awareness campaing on genuine Nokia products for the loyal customers of the products to differentiate between genuine and fake products.
The awareness campaing would be conducted through various local print and electronic media houses, she said, calling on Tanzanians to be wary of products they bought, as genuine Nokia handsets had a 12-month guarantee in addition to the trade mark.
Source: The Citizen