99% of iPhones used in Bangladesh illegally imported

There are 19.76 lakh active iPhones on the networks of the four mobile phone operators in the country, out of which 19.55 lakh are illegal.

These illegal phones are not registered in the BTRC's 'NOC Automation and IMEI Database (NAID)' system as being imported through legitimate channels or by authorized importers.

Jakaria Shahid, president of the Mobile Phone Industry Owners' Association of Bangladesh (MIOB), said, "The government is losing substantial revenue due to the illegal arrival of these high-end phones. The BTRC can easily identify these phones, and the NBR can then issue notices to their users, demanding the owed revenue."

Rezwanul Hoque, vice-president of MIOB and CEO of Ismartu Technology, stated, "The government is losing over Tk 10,000 crores in revenue from iPhones alone, which is equivalent to the annual turnover of the entire mobile industry in the country."

This business leader thinks that the government should look into the issue now.

One of the legitimate iPhone importers in the country is Salextra Limited. Unable to sell iPhones, the company has now halted its imports.

Riajul Islam, Co-Founder and Vice-Chairman of Salextra, said, "For every 100 iPhones imported legally, we can only sell 2. The price difference between a legally imported iPhone with 60 percent customs duty and an illegally imported one is Tk 60,000 to Tk 70,000."

This businessman remarked, "For instance, the legally imported iPhone 15 Pro Max 256 GB is priced around Tk 2 lakh 40 thousand. However, illegal phones of the same model are being sold for between Tk 1 lakh 50 thousand and Tk 1 lakh 48 thousand. Since there are no issues with using illegal phones here, who would be willing to pay so much more for the legal ones?"

Riajul Islam believes that with more active participation from the NBR, Customs, and law enforcement agencies in preventing these illegal handsets, the government could avoid significant revenue loss.

How many iPhones are active on which mobile phone operator:

Grameenphone, the country's largest mobile phone operator in terms of subscribers, has 1 million iPhones in operation. Robi has 646,000 iPhones, Banglalink has 310,000 active iPhones, and Teletalk has 20,000 iPhones. Out of the total 1,976,000 iPhones, only 20,000 are registered as legitimate.