Handsets that were brought into the country illegally will be barred from service from July 1 thanks to the roll out of the National Equipment Identity Register (NEIR).
About 30 per cent of the 10 crore handsets currently in use in Bangladesh have been imported illegally, according to senior officials of the BTRC -- an exercise that deprives the government of import duty and also undercuts the competitiveness of the locally assembled mobile phones.
The NEIR is a central database for International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI), a unique 15-digit identification or serial number inbuilt in mobile phones.
The IMEI numbers of the handsets that are currently in use are beingadded to the NEIR, which is being set up by Synesis IT. So far, 14 crore IMEI numbers have been added.
Once the NEIR goes live on July 1, any unregistered handset then will be blocked, said Shyam Sundar Sikder, the newly appointed chairman of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission(BTRC) at a view-exchange meeting with reporters on Thursday.
The telecom regulator will be able to control the handset’s connectivity to the mobile network and block fake or cloned handsets. Customers will also be able to check the authenticity of their handsets by sending an SMS to the database.
“This will stop the illegal mobile handsets from enteringBangladesh,” he said, adding that an opportunity would be given to reactivate the handsets upon furnishing proof of purchase and relevant documents.
Meanwhile, complains are amassing at the BTRC against mobile operators.
Over 5.56 lakh complaints came from users in a year, 47 times higher than 2019.
The lion's share of complaints were regarding call drops and lack of voice clarity during calls.
According to the BTRC data, during the fiscal year 2018-2019, the number of complaints was only 11,657.
“This number of 5.56 lakh is quite a lot. We have received these complaints through shortcodes and other services,” Sikder said.
He warned the operators, adding that the authority will facilitate businesses and regulate irregularities.
Regarding the launch of 5G services this year, Sikder said that lack of manpower and technology at the BTRC is making it difficult to ensure uninterrupted and accessible 4G services for all, but all the issues will be addressed.
The BTRC also revealed that bandwidth capacity in the country had increased from 8 GB per second to 406 GB per second in 2020.
Additional data also showed that internet density in the country had increased from 2019 by 5.82 per cent, while internet subscribers also increased by 1.11 crore, teledensity by 0.44 per cent and total mobile subscribers by 28 lakh.
