Telkom Kenya wants users of jail broken phones prosecuted

Telkom Kenya is headed for showdown with local mobile developers after petitioning the government to prosecute people who reprogram handsets.

Telkom Kenya has the right to market the iPhone in Kenya, but the market has been flooded with phones from other regions that are reprogrammed to use local networks, cutting into expected sales.

The company, which operates Orange GSM in the country, wants the government to invoke provisions of the Kenya Communications Act, which outlaws reprogramming of network-locked handsets sourced locally or from abroad and stipulates a fine of 1 million Kenyan shillings or five years in jail.

"As an organization, we are playing our role in raising awareness to the fact that mobile reprogramming is illegal and carries a 1 million Kenya shillings fine not to mention a five year jail term, but the police and Communications Commission of Kenya now need to move in and manage the situation," said Mickael Ghossein, Telkom Kenya CEO at the launch of iPhone 3GS.

The new iPhone 3GS is available at all Orange Shops in either the 16GB or 32GB memory capacity versions with prices starting from 44,999 shillings.

But local developers and consumers are wondering how the move by Telkom fosters innovation given that for them to develop applications, they must reprogram or "play around" with the phone.

"This hinders innovation and restricts you to only one provider; why restrict me? why hinder me from exploring other options?" wondered Ken Kasina, a software developer.

For some consumers, the move by Telkom is motivated by the need to continue selling the iPhone at a higher price compared to prices abroad.

"Orange are ridiculous; they sell an overpriced 3G iPhone on their 2G network and expect people not to unlock it?" said Karuoro Waithaka, a businessman in Nairobi.

"Prosecute? It shouldn't be illegal for as long as someone isn't unlocking the phone for purposes of copyright infringement," said Nekessa Opoti, publisher of www.Kenyaimagine.com

However, Ghossein sought to deflate arguments of bad network on the Orange network saying that most jail broken phones are not supported by local networks and users need to buy from approved stores.

"Most gray iPhones are network locked to operators abroad and therefore crash once you try to use them on local unsupported networks. The only remedy for this is to go for approved handsets that are now available at Orange Shops," he concluded.