Mobile importers have moved to curb the inflow of unregistered and smuggled handsets into Bangladesh.
There are currently 8.92 crore handsets in the market, about 30
percent of which were brought in through illegal channels, depriving the
government of about Tk 200 crore in duties a year, according to
Bangladesh Mobile Phone Importers' Association or BMPIA.
The BMPIA will introduce hologram stickers to tag legally registered
handsets, said Rezwanul Haque, general secretary of the importers'
platform.
The association also plans to set up an automated no-objection
certification (NOC) process with the telecom regulator to empower
customers to check their handsets' provenance.
After establishing a database with the NOCs as well as the approved
International Mobile Station Equipment Identity or IMEI, which is a
15-digit unique number for every handset, it will also help ensure
security, Haque said.
“We will also soon introduce a five-digit short code, where users can
call to check their handsets' IMEI numbers. They also can verify the
IMEI on our website.”
State Minister for Telecom Tarana Halim will launch the database in a
ceremony at the Westin Dhaka on February 9. However, the association
is not planning to take any action against the unregistered handsets
currently in use, officials said.
“For now, we are focused on digitising the registration process, and
may use it for regulatory purposes after the database is properly
enriched over the next few years,” Haque said.
Some 50,000 handsets are stolen or lost in Bangladesh every year, and
a proper database will help with recovery and curb related crimes, the
association said.
Currently, fake IMEI are not detectable in Bangladesh, which makes it
easy to use those to carry out criminal acts like kidnapping, officials
said, for which they are working to stop the inflow of such fake IMEI
handsets.
Bangladesh imported 2.59 crore handsets last year, with 15 percent year-on-year growth.
On December 16 last year, all mobile phone operators began the
re-registration process for all subscriber identity modules or SIMs
through the biometric system, also to boost security.
