Phone dealer raises imitated phone brands

The growth in the subscriber base of mobile telephony in Ghanashould be good news for dealers of mobile phones in the country.

Today, the country's 15 million mobile phone users may subscribe to two or more service providers as they seek better options in quality service. This has opened up a huge market opportunity for mobile phone dealers to maximize returns.

However some players in the telecom sub-sector are unhappy with current business trends in phone dealership.

Manager of JOBOST Enterprise, Job Osei Tutu, who has been in the business for the past 15 years, is embarking on a campaign to curb the importation of cheap imitated phones into the country.

He tells Luv Fm the current inflow of sub-standard mobile phones is not only a threat to the industry but should be a major public health and safety concern.

“These China phones cannot help us, because there are a lot of radiation effects and can cause our house to burn. Most of the time when you go to those who sell phones, they don't use China phones but original ones because they know the effects. They are selling to the public because of affordability and we should not use our money to buy diseases”, Mr. Osei Tutu stated.

He is prevailing on the National Communications Authority (NCA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Ghana National Fire Service to check the health and other implications of phones imported from Chinaand other countries.

He also expects colleagues in phone merchandising to help protect public trust by stocking original phones.

Ghana's mobile phone penetration rate at the end of 2009 was almost 63 percent.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh