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Telecom
October 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 21
Iran’s imports of mobile phones in five-month period surge 92.9%
Iran’s mobile phone imports leapt 92.9% to €206.1mn during the first five months of the cur- rent Persian calendar year (March 21 to July 22), according to data released by the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) on Sep- tember 14.
Mobile imports shipped to the Islamic Republic, like many other imported items, piled up at cus- toms as the Iranian government struggled to stop an outbreak of profiteering by private importers during the summer months. Opportunities for such practices opened up as the Iranian rial (IRR) collapsed prior to the reintroduction of heavy US sanctions designed to asphyxiate Iran’s economy. Phones held up at customs began to trickle on to the market after business groups protested on the streets over rent-seeking pursued by importers.
The near doubling in legal imports of mobile phones suggests the Rouhani administration’s mission to get a handle on the market with its mobile phone registry scheme aimed at rendering black market handsets useless and the subse- quent formalisation of the market with the provi-
sion of import licences to official dealers has met with some success. The changes have also helped the government accrue further revenues from sales and import taxes charged on mobile phones.
Since earlier this year, the country’s telecommu- nications ombudsman, the Communications Reg- ulatory Authority (CRA), has barred unregistered mobile phones from the telecom network, making thousands of black marked premium handsets including Apple iPhones unusable in Iran. There are reports that the scheme has caused difficul- ties for tourists and visiting business delega- tions. They have apparently complained that their phones proved unworkable on the Iranian telecom network, even though they were only requiring the use of them for a short period before departing the country.
Prior to the registry scheme, mobiles were often smuggled into Iran inside suitcases. According
to official statistics, the state lost an estimated $625mn in tax revenues because of the smuggling of mobiles from in the last Iranian year (ended March 20).