THE New Nation on Wednesday in a report said high cost mobile cell phone sets of international brands that are brought in illegally have occupied nearly 40 percent of the total local market due to high import duty. Traders held the view that the government exchequer is losing around Tk 15 billion in revenue from the informal import through travel routes and the situation is only exponentially going out of control due to easy access and lack of efficient monitoring.
The marketing agent of a leading phone brand and shop owners were quoted in the report as saying that most high-priced sets come through illegal channels as the international brands like Apple, HTC or Blackberry do not have local distribution networks in Bangladesh. An official of a law-enforcement agency maintained that apart from huge revenue loss from, illegally imported sets there are also risky for the country’s law and order as criminals always prefer to use unauthorized mobile sets.
As per Bangladesh Mobile Phone Importers Association (BMPIA) law enforcing agencies personnel in an unanticipated recent raid have seized around one thousand smart phones worth Tk 20 million from a big shopping mall in the city. The BMPIA data show the import demand for handsets is about 22 million and only 12 million sets are imported legally while the rest come through illegal conduits. BMPIA sources said an authorized dealer has to pay a total of 22 percent tax, including duty and advance income tax. Bangladesh it is very high and encouraging smuggling.
As it appears that the government has embarked on a two-pronged move to enhance the cyber security by cracking down on illegally imported mobile handsets in the market and boosting efforts for proper SIM registrations. BTRC is also working on formulating a guideline on handset import with regard to proper IMEI numbers.
In our view big smuggling loopholes must be plunged through major port of entry and for that more manpower must be trained. The government should at the same time reduce the import duty so that more imports can compensate the revenue loss from lower duty rates. In an economy where technology is gaining pace in creating different ways of revenue, the government should have smart ways to control the market. The most important thing is that proper registration of the Sim must be ensured to check use of mobiles in committing crimes. The fact is that most illegal handsets are now in possession of thugs moving under the ruling party shelter. They must be taken under registration now in progress so the use of their mobile set can be equally monitored to reduce the incidence of crimes.
