Nokia and Samsung to recycle fake phones

Nokia and Samsung are to recycle fake mobile phones hit by Kenyan government efforts to switch off illicit handsets.

At the end of September mobile telecommunications providers in Kenya switched off more than 1.5m handsets in compliance with a government crackdown. Nokia and Samsung both set up collection points to recycle the counterfeit handsets.

"Mobile phones contain many valuable and useful materials that can be recycled. For every one million phones recycled, it is possible to recover nearly 35kg of gold and 350kg of silver," said Bruce Howe, general manager of Nokia East Africa.

Samsung is offering Kenyans deals on genuine handsets when they turn over their counterfeit mobile phones, IT News Africa reports. The head of the government agency behind the switch off has commended phone manufacturers for making affordable genuine products available.

Nokia, Samsung and other manufacturers joined with the government and network providers to raise awareness of the switch off ahead of the September 30 deadline.