Page 15 - bne_Tech_10_2019

Telecom
October 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 15
Iranian government earns €92mn from duties paid under mobile phone registry scheme
The Iranian government has said it earned IRR13 trillion (€92mn at the unofficial exchange rate) from duties paid on imported phones declared under the mobile registry scheme brought in last year to stamp out black market handsets, afkarnews.com reported on October 9.
Action was taken after concern mounted over “suitcase imports” of mobile phones brought into the country from regional markets including Dubai, Kuwait and Azerbaijan.
The Iranian Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA) bars unregistered phones from the national telecoms network.
Ali Rahbari, head of the E-Commerce Develop- ment Centre at the Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade, reportedly added that at least 37,000 people had misused the registry system, with 6,000 receiving warnings.
Russian mobile major MTS to remain on NYSE
Russian mobile major Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) will not delist its American Depository Receipts (ADRs) from the NYSE, the controlling shareholder and chairman of AFK Sistema multi-industry investment conglomerate Vladimir Yevtushenko told the press on October 9.
MTS is the anchor asset of Sistema and since February investors have been anticipating news
He said the ministry had calculated that another 30,000 handsets had not been activated on the telecom network and had no explanation as to what had happened to those phones.
During the roll-out of the registry scheme last year, there were several thousand instances
of visitors’ details being leaked, according to Rahbari. In one instance of fraud, connected people registered more than 2,000 handsets to incoming visitors before allegedly selling them
on to mobile phone dealers. Criminal proceedings have been brought.
Incoming visitors to Iran are given one month to register their mobile phone. If they fail to do so, they are given a warning, which arrives in Persian.
VAT levied on mobile phones is 18% in Iran.
on changes to the structure of the company's freefloat, including possibly delisting from NYSE and making the Moscow Exchange the main trading platform for MTS stock.
Sberbank CIB sees Yevtushenko’s statement
as "upbeat", and welcomes the opportunity
for MTS's ADRs to keep their listing on the NYSE. However, the bank still awaits an official