Kampala — PEOPLE owning Nokia phones but with defective chargers made by a third party can now exchange them for genuine Nokia chargers for free, Nokia has announced.

Nokia announced the initiative on Tuesday asking consumers with these chargers to stop using them immediately.

"They are the AC-3E and AC-3U models, manufactured between June 15, 2009 and August 9, 2009; and the AC-4U model, manufactured between April 13, 2009 and October 25, 2009,' said Dorothy Ooko, Nokia ccommunications manager, East & Southern Africa in a statement.

The statement said the defects were discovered during a routine quality control process in which Nokia identified a potential product quality issue with certain chargers manufactured by one of its third-party suppliers.

The plastic covers of the affected chargers could come loose and separate, exposing the charger's internal components and potentially posing an electrical shock hazard.

Ooko said the electrical shocks could occur if certain internal components are touched while the charger is plugged into a live socket. Nokia though said they are not aware of any incidents or injuries related to these chargers.

Ooko said only a limited number of chargers of certain model types manufactured by a single third-party supplier during a specific time period are within the scope of the exchange programme.