Forgerers pose big challenge to mobile dealers

JEDDAH, 21 October — The increasing circulation of forged mobile phones poses a huge challenge to official distributors throughout the Kingdom. The imitations are cheap and difficult to differentiate from the originals.

The forged models can only operate with prepaid cards and are popular in several neighboring countries. They are available from unlicensed salesmen often located near phone shops and commercial centers.

Although it cannot be used with the prepaid card marketed by Saudi Telecom, its promoters decode the STC code and sell them so they can be used in the imitation cards.

According to a Saudi Telecom source, the company is not empowered to look into the distribution of the mobile.

“There are other responsible departments more concerned about the matter than the STC, which only provides the service. It doesn’t possess the detailed information about the models available in the market,” he said.

According to sources in the electronic market, the duplicate sets are likely to create a lot of problems for consumers, as they are not compatible with the STC mobile service. It is not possible to send text messages or change the light or tone ringer using these sets.

Saudi Telecom has so far marketed 2.5 million mobile chips and is projected to sell over 1 million more before the end of the year in the Saudi market, which is considered the largest mobile market in the Arab world.

Earlier, a Swiss-made prepaid chip was circulated in the Saudi market. Its features included free incoming cards and cheaper international calls. The sale and use of such chips are in violation of the Saudi telecommunications regulations as its exporter has no right to use the Saudi infrastructure, said Saleh Al-Jaser, director general of marketing at Saudi Telecom.

There are 400,000 prepaid card users in the Kingdom with a market value estimated at SR600 million, according to the director general of Interkey, which has captured 30 percent of the local market.