Handset authentication restarts as mobile-making hits a record low

Bangladesh's mobile-phone manufacturing reached a six-month low in December 2023, with factories operating at just 50-60-percent capacity.
As key reasons for the slump, industry insiders cited declining customer purchasing power due to inflation and a growing grey market of mobile handsets.
This has prompted authorities to resume phone authentication, which had been stalled since 2021.
According to the latest data by the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), local manufacturers produced 2.11 million units in December, down from 2.32 million in July 2023.
This is a sharp contrast to January 2022, when production stood at 4.14 million units.
The decline coincides with an increase in grey market phone sales, with imported mobile phones returning after a one-month break.
In December 2023, Bangladesh imported 10,009 units, all equipped with 4G or 5G technology. No feature phones were imported during this period.
Within the December production figures, feature phones still dominated, accounting for 81.89 per cent of the total with 1.72 million units.
Smartphones constituted just 18.11 per cent with 382,000 units, a noticeable drop from 28.43 per cent in November 2023.
Industry insiders also blamed stubbornly high inflation, a weakening Taka and an unfavourable tax structure on phone raw materials for the disappointing smartphone production figures.
The BTRC data shows no 3G phone production since January 2023.
NEIR comeback to 'shield' local manufacturers State Minister for Telecommunications Zunaid Ahmed Palak on Tuesday directed the BTRC to reactivate the National Equipment Identity Register (NEIR) -- a system introduced in 2021 to curb illegal handset imports.
The system was meant to combat the grey market by linking smartphones' international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) numbers with users' national ID and SIM card details, effectively rendering unauthorised devices unusable on local networks.
However, it was later suspended, letting the grey market flourish unabated.
In the face of plummeting local handset production, Palak Tuesday asked the regulatory officials to restart NEIR "as soon as possible".
The state minister said the NEIR comeback would safeguard the local manufacturers by controlling the grey market
Around 50-60 per cent of local demand is met by unofficially imported phones, according to Mohammad Mesbah Uddin, chief marketing officer at Fair Electronics. Mr Uddin labelled the unofficial imports a serious threat to the country's thriving mobile phone manufacturing sector.
The mobile phone industry has seen remarkable growth in the country since 2017, riding on government tax incentives. Seventeen factories have been established, creating 15,000 jobs.
While talking to The Financial Express, Mr Uddin warned that unless the government steps in to control the grey market, domestic manufacturers may be forced to scale down operations further or even shut down entirely.

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