No mobile handset to be closed in country

Consumers worry over whether the mobile handset is legal or illegal, whether it will get the network or not, is going to end soon. No handset coming under the country's mobile network will be closed.

As before, all handsets coming under the mobile network will be automatically registered in the National Equipment Identity Register (NEIR) of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC).

The decision was made at a high-level meeting of several government entities including BTRC and Posts and Telecommunications Division, according to several top officials of the Posts and Telecommunications Division.

Earlier on January 18 this year, BTRC through a notification announced that it would disconnect all illegal mobile handsets very soon. The notification urged the public to verify the validity of mobile handsets before purchasing them.

It said, “The process of fully operationalising NEIR has been initiated to ensure collection of government revenue, and to prevent theft of second-hand mobile phones, through closure of illegal handsets.”

At the policy-making stage, it has been discussed that the people cannot be allowed to suffer in the use of handsets or technology products. BTRC is successfully keeping a detailed database of all the handsets operating in the country.

The task of collecting VAT or tax if any handsets come from outside the country is NBR's. The NBR can verify how the handset arrived in the country through law enforcement agencies, if necessary.