Nokia’s General Manager Sales in charge of Ghana and Senegal, Ludovic Falcou said importers of fake mobile devices typically avoid payment of taxes and levies thus creating huge income losses for the government. Nokia, world’s leading manufacturer of mobile devices has warned against the prevalence of counterfeit mobile phones in Ghana which is capable of negatively impacting the Ghanaian economy as in other countries were the trend is equally prevalent. Nokia made this known in Accra during a media parley on its operations in Ghana.

According to him, this trend of discourages foreign direct investment as international companies are likely to direct their investment elsewhere. Mr. Falcou also warned that high penetration of fake devices impacts negatively on the operator networks. This he said lowers the profits of the networks and the attendant tax income. The Nokia boss however said that recent trend in the market shows that Ghanaians are beginning to embrace genuine products. The trend, he said has been helped by the recent launch of the Nokia dual SIM in the Ghanaian market.

Mr. Falcou said the lure of cheap prizes amounts to being ‘penny wise pound foolish’ as the so-called cheap devices have a shorter lifespan. He also stressed the need for users of Nokia phones to take full advantage of the numerous applications available on Nokia store including Music, videos, games and navigation. The Ovi store is only available on genuine Nokia Devices. Beyond this, all genuine Nokia devices purchased in Ghana are covered by a one-year warranty. The Nokia warranty starts from the date of purchase and it guarantees the user of repair at no cost and even replacement in the event of malfunction. He said Nokia is also able to reduce the cost of internet access on their phones through strategic partnership with operators.

Nokia, the world’s number one manufacturer of mobile devices by market share on Wednesday 7th December will address this issue in detail at the Novotel Hotel from 11:30 am to 1pm.