Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 14
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iranian companies produce about 1.5 million cell phones per year, Abbas Hashemi, an official with the Islamic Republic's Ministry of Industries, Mines and Trade said, the official IRIB news agency reported Jan. 14.
Hashemi said that at least 11 entities have been granted licenses to produce cell phones in the country, however only two companies are active currently.
The domestic cell phone output can cover 10-15 percent of the country's demands, Hashemi said. The official also confirmed that the domestic brands are not capable of competing with famous global phone-makers.
Hashemi said that the Iranian administration decreased cell phone imports' tariff from 25 percent to 6 percent in 2013 to prevent cell phone smuggling into the country, adding it has not been successful so far.
Head of Iran's State Union of Audio-Video Equipment and Cell Phone Sellers Ebrahim Dorosti said last September that over 75 percent of the cell phones that are being sold in the Iranian market are smuggled. He went on to note that cell phones accounted for only $2 billion of the total $20 billion of smuggled goods in the previous year (which ended on March 20, 2014).
According to Iran Customs Administration's reports, the country's legal import of cell phones in the previous Iranian fiscal year was worth around $183 million. The figure stood at $170 million in the Iranian calendar year of 1391 (which ended on March 20, 2013).
Edited by CN
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