TEHRAN, Iran, Feb.3
Trend:
Iran's mobile phone market is anticipating early customs release, while the process of customs registration has reduced the smuggling, said Head of the Cell Phone Sellers Union.
Ebrahim Dorosti has discussed the latest situation at mobile phone market and import in an interview with Trend.
"Start of mobile phones registration from June 2019 has limited the smuggling considerably; based on the regulation, each person can only bring one mobile phone to the country, and each passenger can register one mobile phone by presenting his or her passport to register," Dorosti said.
"In recent years, the registration plan did not go on well, but finally it is implemented to prevent smuggling, so currently, any individual can pay customs fee for the mobile phone and register it at the custom system," the official added.
"The number of companies importing mobile phones has increased from 18 to 100. "The price of 85 percent of mobile phones in the market are under $400, and they are imported according toIran's Forex Management Integrated System (NIMA), while the price of mobile phones that value more than $400 will be calculated based on free market rate," Dorosti said.
"Sometimes events in the world affect the economy, but with regards to coronavirus outbreak, Iran's mobile phone sector has not been effected, since the businessmen imported the goods before the outbreak occurred," he noted.
"There is currently recession in the mobile phone market, but we hope the market will improve in the new Iranian year [begins March 21, 2020]; however, the retailers ask the importers for shorter delivery process, so there would not be lack of various brands," he said.
Iran has launched a long-awaited national scheme to curb the huge and growing market of smuggled mobile phones. With the implementation of Iran’s National Mobile Registry Scheme, all new mobile phones must be registered to be eligible for using Iranian SIM Cards.