Tehran, Iran, September 20
By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
Apple iPhone 7 mobile phones that currently exist in Iran will not be registered on the country’s cellular network because they are all smuggled, said head of Telecommunication Devices Association Qolamhossein Karimi.
He noted that while iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are available in the international market for $649 and $760 respectively, they are sold for $2000 and $2500 in Iran, Mehr news agency reported September 19.
On September 20, spokesman on Headquarters for Fight on Goods and Currency Smuggling Qassem Khorshidi said that each year Iran’s economy suffers $320 worth of damage from cell phone smuggling.
The government recently decided to withhold the network service to cell phones that are not legally distributed in the country.
The current administration blames a previously established tariff of 60 percent on cell phone imports as the main encouraging factor behind cell phone smuggling.
Iran’s mobile network's penetration rate is currently 97.5 percent. Over 21.35 million of Iran's 80 million population are using mobile phones to access the Internet, according to the latest statistics of the country’s ICT ministry published September 20.