BTRC mulls strict measures against use of illegal handsets

The mobile handset market in Bangladesh is currently worth Tk 15,000 crore, but this huge market is facing a crisis due to the dominance of illegal handsets.

Legitimate mobile manufacturers and traders are suffering severe financial losses due to illegal handsets which share 40 percent of the market, posing a major challenge to the legitimate businesses.

In 2021, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) announced for the first time that it was taking steps to disconnect illegal mobile handsets from the network, but the move did not materialise.

In January 2024, the company again announced that they would soon disconnect illegal handsets from the network. However, it is yet to be done.

According to sources concerned, though BTRC planned to isolate illegal phones from the network through NEIR (National Equipment Identity Register) system, the system could not be implemented due to indecision at the top level of the Posts and Telecommunications Division of the previous government.

As a result of this legitimate mobile manufacturers are suffering while the government is also losing revenue of about Tk 2,000 crore.

Mobile Phone Industry Owners Association of Bangladesh (MIOB) President Zakaria Shahid told Views Bangladesh that about three to four lakh people are directly involved in the mobile phone industry.

Before 2018, mobile phones were completely imported from abroad, but currently 99 percent of the country's mobile phones are manufactured locally, he informed.

“Although government incentives have boosted domestic manufacturing capacity, the industry is in crisis due to illegal imports and counterfeit handsets,” he said.

The MIOB has conveyed its problems to interim government's Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus and Posts and Telecommunications Adviser Nahid Islam, besides writing to the National Board of Revenue (NBR) chairman.

Industry insiders alleged that due to illegal phones, the demand for legitimate handsets in the country's market is decreasing and the legitimate traders are facing severe losses due to this.

MIOB Vice-President Rezwanul Haque told Views Bangladesh that there are about 19,55,000 iPhones active in the country, most of which are illegal.

Government is losing huge amount of revenue from these phones, he mentioned.

Citing that the introduction of NEIR system promised to stop illegal and tax evasion import of mobile phones, he said, “It was on the basis of that assurance that the country's major mobile importers set up factories locally; but due to the dominance of illegal mobiles they are facing huge losses.”

He said currently, the potential revenue loss of the government due to illegal mobile phones is around Tk 2,000 crore.

BTRC Chairman Major General (Retd) Md Emdad Ul Bari told Views Bangladesh that they want to fully implement the NEIR system, through which illegal handsets can be detected.

He said an effective system will be adopted by discussing with the related parties how to identify the illegal handsets and automatically disconnect them from the network of mobile operators.

At the same time, it is being investigated why the operation of NEIR has been shut down several times, why the system almost became ineffective, he added.

He also said that BTRC is planning to take more stringent action this time. “If this step of NEIR is implemented, it will be possible to reduce the flow of illegal phones in the mobile handset market and reduce the revenue loss to the government.”

He said that BTRC has already started the work of restarting the NEIR system.

Legitimate mobile phone manufacturers are now waiting for quick action by the government, so that they can play an important role in the economic development of the country by getting rid of the unfair competition.