Government won’t ban Chinese phones in the country – Deputy minister

The Deputy Minister of Communications, George Andah, has said the government will not ban China-based mobile phones in the country.
He said fake phones are substandard mobiles with several health implications.

According to him, China produces some quality phones which are not substandard as being speculated.

He said these cheap fake phones are of low quality on the black-market and vehemently causes revenue loss for importers.

The Communications Minister, Ursula Owusu addressing the press stated that Ghana has about 34 million mobile devices subscribers with the mobile penetration rate exceeding 119%.

However, some subscribers use substandard and smuggled devices resulting in cyber-security challenges, it also has health implications and poses revenue loss for importers, the government and operators.

However, George Andah said the Ministry, together with other stakeholders in the telecommunications industry, have received reports on the effect of substandard mobile devices in the country.

In an interview on Accra-based Kingdom FM, he said “My Ministry is currently liaising with mobile network operators to determine the level of potential risk with regards to the prevalent substandard mobile devices on the market.

“The Communications Ministry has acquired the state of the art type approval laboratory capable of testing all electronic communication devices to ensure that they are up to standard.”