EYE ON BUSINESS A DW AKADEMIE WORKSHOP MAGAZINE
KNOCK-KNOCK: CHINA’S AT THE DOOR Egypt’s gray mobile phone market is booming. Cheap models from China are all the rage, and customers don’t seem to care that they are often counterfeit. European countries apply strong restrictions on the import of Chinese products. Take a look at two different strategies. TEXTHANAN ELGENDI PHOTOSMORITZ TSCHERMAK
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owadays Chinese ladies carrying bags full of fake mobile phones and knocking on doors are a common sight in Egyptian neighborhoods. In shopping areas Chinese sellers promote and sell cheap, counterfeit mobile phones, often surrounded by large number of customers who usually end up with a phone and what they see as the best possible deal. „They are cheap and well designed.” That’s what many Egyptians will argue when asked why they buy fake phones made in China. The Chinese first entered the Egyptian market six years ago, posing big competition to other brands in the market. There is speculation that these fake devices carry health risks, for example through increased radiation. However, Egyptian customers do not seem to care about possible dangers and race to buy these products.
The price is certainly attractive to customers who have to make ends meet: A fake Chinese phone can be purchased for 150 Egyptian pounds (about 27 US dollars), while a registered mobile phone costs at least 700 Egyptian pounds.
Authority (NTRA), his organization last year tried to cut off the signal of all irregular Chinese phones devices. However, the NTRA did not succeed because of the enormous number of phones that would be affected.
While a number of consumer protection organizations are operating in Egypt, they do not have the capacity nor the market experience to fight the smuggling or selling of cheap Chinese products. Producers have been able to flood the market with counterfeit phones without any kind of repercussion. These goods have not been tested to insure their quality or safety - something European Union countries do to keep their citizens safe and to protect their markets.
Mr Badawy told the “Alalam Elyoum” business newspaper that many of these phones are difficult to detect because they do not have authentic serial numbers. He added that the government does not object to Chinese products in general. But in addition to the problem of many mobiles being fake, there is often also a complex assembly process: Some parts are made in China, the battery comes from Malaysia and yet another part of the phone has been produced elsewhere. Without a testing process the government can’t guarantee that these products are safe to use. ...continued on page 7
According to Amr Badawy, head of Egypt‘s National Telecom Regulatory