19.5 lakh 'illegal' iPhones running on mobile operators' networks

There are 19 lakh 76 thousand iPhones active in the network of four mobile phone operators in Bangladesh. Out of this 19 lakh 55 thousand are illegal. These illegal phones are not registered in BTRC's 'Knock Automation and IMEI Database (NAID)' system as being legitimate importers of the country or coming through legitimate channels.

Mobile Phone Industry Owners Association of Bangladesh (MIOB) President Jakaria Shahid said that the government has been deprived of huge revenue due to the illegal arrival of these expensive category phones. BTRC can detect these phones easily. NBR can then issue notices to these handset users asking for revenue. MIOB vice-president Rezwanul Haque said the government is losing more than Rs 10,000 crore in revenue with just one iPhone. Which is equal to a year's turnover of the country's total mobile industry.

Among the legitimate iPhone importers in the country is Salestra Limited. Unable to sell the iPhone, the company has now stopped importing it. Riazul Islam, co-founder and vice-chairman of Salextra Limited, said, “I cannot import 100 iPhones and sell 2. The difference between the price of a legally imported iPhone with 60 percent customs duty and an illegally imported iPhone is 60 to 70 thousand rupees.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak has asked the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to track down users of unregistered mobile phones worth lakhs of rupees and take action against them. He also advised the law enforcement agencies to conduct frequent raids against illegal phones to develop the domestic mobile phone industry market. The state minister said this in a seminar titled 'Challenges and Prospects in Mobile Handset Production in the Country' organized by Telecom and Technology Reporters Network Bangladesh (TRNB) recently.

How many iPhones are active on which mobile phone operator: Grameenphone, the country's largest mobile phone operator in terms of subscribers, is running 10 lakh iPhones. Robi this number is 6 lakh 46 thousand. Banglalink 3 lakh 10 thousand and Teletalk 20 thousand active iPhones. In total, only 20 thousand of these 19 lakh 76 thousand iPhones are registered as valid.