The government is making some changes in the system of National Equipment Identity Register (NEIR) considering the suffering of the people. According to sources in the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has been instructed not to turn off any mobile phone network.
According to the people concerned, this means that whether the mobile phone is imported legally or in some other way, it will not stop when the customer starts using it. It has been said for so long that the illegally imported mobile phone network will be detected and shut down once it is operational.
The National Equipment Identity Register system was introduced in the country on July 1 on an experimental basis. The BTRC officially launched the system from October 1.
Illegally imported mobile phones were being identified after the system was launched. They were also asked to register with the proof of their mobile phones. But ordinary people were talking about suffering in the registration of mobile phones brought from abroad and received as gifts.
Posts and Telecommunications Minister Mustafa Jabbar told Prothom Alo: “After the system was launched, I saw people suffering. Feature phones are still 80 percent of the total phones sold in the market. The internet cannot be used there. Registering for them is a chore. Most of the common people do not know how to do legal-invalid verification with IMEI number (identification number) of mobile phone. The minister said he discussed these issues with Sajeeb Wazed Joy, IT adviser to the prime minister. He (the adviser) instructed the people to make sure that they do not suffer. Accordingly, instructions have been given to BTRC.
The Minister further said that the use of mobile phones needs to be further enhanced for the development of Digital Bangladesh. If it is seen that the development of digital Bangladesh is being hampered due to the suffering with the registration of mobile phones, it is a bigger loss.
A database of mobile phones has been created through NEIR system. The minister also mentioned that the BTRC would be able to provide information on legal and illegal phone calls if the National Board of Revenue (NBR) wants to prevent revenue evasion.
Asked about the decision on multiple sets with fake or the same IMEI number, the minister said a decision would be taken later on what can be done to avoid suffering.
According to the BTRC, 3 lakh 49 thousand 752 mobile phones were reactivated in the network in the three days after the introduction of the illegal mobile phone detection system on October 1. Of these, 1 lakh 24 thousand 81 were not in the BTRC database. This means that these phones are either imported illegally, or the expatriates have brought them back home.
At the end of last August, the number of mobile phone subscribers in Bangladesh stood at just over 168 million. If a customer uses a mobile phone once in the last 90 days, he is considered as a customer. However, according to GSM, the global organization of mobile operators, the unique user in the country is 54 percent. In the case of a unique user, even if a person has more than one SIM, he is considered as a subscriber. As per BTRC, the number of active sets in the network is about 23 crore.
The total tax on the import of a smartphone in the country is 56 percent. As a result, the difference between the price of legally imported and illegally imported phones is much greater. Concerned people say that only 41 percent of the mobile phone users in the country use smartphones. In India, 69 per cent, Pakistan 51 per cent, Nepal 53 per cent and Sri Lanka 60 per cent of mobile phone users have a smartphone.
Mohiuddin Ahmed, president of the Bangladesh Mobile Phone Subscribers Association, told Prothom Alo that people were suffering, that’s right. The decision has also been accepted as reality. However, the process of detecting illegal mobile phones should have been done with adequate advance preparation, considering what the impact might be and formulating policies.
