Serial-no registration abolishment, immanent

recording the serial-no of mobile handsets will be abolished in a few days time.
One distributor told MOBNA with the present state of the market, and all mobile handsets being fully operational within the Telecom network, it is anticipated the scheme, which was launched without an official announcement, will be abolished.
Mehdi Khoddami added that tariff reduction and the widespread activities of authorized agents have contributed to the decision.
He said in the situation that the smugglers activities have fallen to under 5%, the serial-no registration is meaningless.
The scheme was launched when government, in a bid to protect domestic production, raised import tariff on mobile handsets from 4% to 60%, which, in due course, led to a massive influx of smuggled handsets.
However, since the country’s telecom system was not prepared for the influx, the scheme was abandoned in the early summer of 2007.
Currently, the unauthorized mobile handset import takes place with complete impunity.

132