More than one million fake mobile phones in Kenya could have their telco services switched off this week, beating original estimates from the country’s regulator that 800,000 handsets would be affected.

The country's four mobile operators started yesterday to carry out a Communication Commission of Kenya (CCK) directive to deny services to subscribers who failed to replace their fake devices by the September 30th midnight.

Market leader Safaricom says it has completed the blocking of 680,000 counterfeit mobile phone handsets on its 19.1 million subscriber base. The CCK, meanwhile, says that Airtel Kenya has blocked 588,831 counterfeit devices.

Telkom Orange has also confirmed that it has switched off 72,000 counterfeit handsets on its network by noon yesterday, adding that the exercise was planned to continue later in the day.

A spokesperson for Indian operator Essar Telecom (YU) has further said the company had started its process, and could switch off a total of 120,000 subscribers on its network by midnight last night.

In total, this could mean that 1.46 million fake handsets in the country are to be blocked by telcos this week.

However, confusion does exist regarding the accuracy of the CCK’s numbers, as the regulator’s figures do not match up with that of telcos. For example, the CCK says that 754,269 Safaricom subscribers with fake phones have had their services halted: a figure that is much higher than Safaricom’s number of 680,000.

The CCK also says that a whopping 470,000 Yu subscribers have had their services switched off, while the telco itself maintains that it could only have blocked 120,000 phones.

Nevertheless, the process of blocking fake phones continues, and Safaricom and Essar Telecom yesterday contacted subscribers who were using fake handsets to alert them about the switch off and encouraged them to purchase genuine handsets.

“We’ve done the relevant assessments for our subscribers and advised those subscribers whom may be affected such that they are also able to make plans to acquire alternate devices. These subscribers have been alerted by our customer experience team,” said Essar Telecom in a statement.

According to Safaricom, the majority of its customers affected by the switch off reside in areas around Nairobi, Rift Valley, Central and Eastern provinces. Combined, these areas accounted for more than 60% of the targeted counterfeit phones.

The four mobile operators are expected to start analysing the financial implications that the mop-up exercise could have on their businesses. According to the CCK, at the end of 2011, Kenya had over 28 million active SIMs.

The loss of over one million subscribers is expected to affect the sale of airtime, use of mobile money transfer services among other value added services the operators offer, affecting revenues in a market already characterised by declining profits due to stiff competition.

This is Kenya’s third attempt to block off fake mobile handsets. The CCK says the blocking of counterfeit phones could reduce health risks to users, mobile money fraud, combat terrorism and political violence.

However, Kenya's consumer right body, Consumer Federation of Kenya (Cofek), says it will seek compensation on behalf of subscribers whose phones are switched off.

The mobile operators are also urging the government to step up measures to curb further entry of fake devices in the market.

“For this exercise to be successful, all operators have to play their part and diligently block the counterfeit devices based on lists they receive from the other networks,” said Safaricom chief executive Bob Collymore.

“We recognise that blocking handsets alone is not the long term solution and we call for more support to the CCK by related Government agencies to block entry and sale of the counterfeit devices and to step up prosecution of those who engage in their illegal importation and sale,” Collymore added.