­Mobile phone vendors may cut the cost of handsets sold in Uganda in the run up to a ban on the use of counterfeit phones to make calls.

The ban, which will require the networks to bar any phone containing a fake IMEI serial number comes into effect in November.

Samsung's deputy managing director for East Africa, Robert Ngeru told New Vision that subsidies on the cost of new handsets follows a similar one in Kenya, where price rebates of up to 30% were offered when the crackdown on fake phones began.

Samsung's country manager, Amos Mulago estimates that almost 30% of the mobile devices on the market are counterfeit.

Subsidies by other handset vendors are also being considered in order to tap into the short-term surge in handset replacement sales when the counterfeit models are jammed.

The regulator first indicated that it would follow local countries in the region in banning fake phones last month, when it warned that counterfeit phones were a security risk to the country.

Local phone dealers say that following last month's warning, sales of Chinese sourced mobile phones has dropped sharply. With consumers wary of fake phones, even legitimate handsets sourced from China have been affected by the declaration.