Dhaka, Mar 26 (V7N) – Bangladesh is losing 2,000 crore taka in revenue annually due to the illegal import of mobile handsets, raising serious concerns within the government and the Office of the Chief Advisor.

To combat this issue, authorities are set to fully implement the National Equipment Identification Register (NEIR) system within this year. This system will block handsets imported without paying customs duties from accessing local telecom networks.

However, complications have emerged in awarding the NEIR system maintenance contract. The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) initially proposed renewing the contract with the current service provider, Synecys IT, without an open tender. But following objections from the Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS), the BTRC has decided to cancel the direct purchase method and adopt a quality and cost-based selection process.

BASIS Support Committee Chairman Raphael Kabir criticized the lack of transparency in awarding the contract.

"Some officials who remained in BTRC even after the fall of the Oracle government were trying to award the contract to a single company without an open tender," he alleged.

He further stated that under the previous contract, the government was paying 5.5 crore taka per year for NEIR maintenance, but by ensuring an open competition, costs can be reduced while improving service quality.

The estimated cost of maintaining the NEIR system for a year is 5.68 crore taka. The BTRC now believes that switching to an open bidding process could delay the system’s full launch by another seven months.

Local mobile phone manufacturers argue that 17 domestic handset factories are at risk due to the continued influx of smuggled phones.

Rezwanul Haque, CEO of iSmartU Technologies, emphasized the urgency of launching NEIR.

"BTRC has been evaluating procurement options, but we need a clear launch date. As far as we know, BTRC has assured us they will try to implement it by mid-year or the third quarter of 2025," he stated.

Given the massive revenue losses and the threat to local industry, the Office of the Chief Advisor and the National Board of Revenue (NBR) have urged BTRC to expedite the process and enforce the ban on illegal handsets as soon as possible.

END/MSS/AJ