The Mobile Business Community Bangladesh (MBCB) has announced to close all mobile phone shops in the country in protest against the National Equipment Identity Register (NEIR) system to be implemented from December 16 to prevent the use of unregistered mobile phone handsets and ensure security in the telecommunications sector.
The mobile phone traders’ organization made the announcement at a press conference organized at the Sagar-Runi auditorium of Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU) in the capital on Wednesday.
MBCB Acting President Shamim Mollah said at the press conference that the organization’s General Secretary Abu Sayeed Pias has been taken to the DB office. If he is not released and the issue of NEIR implementation is not reconsidered, mobile phone sellers across the country will launch a strong movement.
NEIR is a central system that will register each handset’s internationally recognized IMEI number by linking it with the user’s National Identity Card (NID) and the SIM used.
The interim government hopes that if this system is implemented, the use of unregistered, stolen or unauthorized imported phones on the country’s mobile network will be stopped.
At the press conference, the leaders of the organization highlighted various inconsistencies in the NEIR, which is to be launched on December 16.
The leaders of the organization said that if the NEIR is implemented in a hurry before the upcoming national parliamentary elections, chaos may arise. If the NEIR is implemented, the employment of more than 20,000 businessmen and about two million people will be threatened and they will take to the streets. The phones that expatriates bring to the country with their hard-earned remittances are creating additional income opportunities for them. If the NEIR is implemented, they will lose this opportunity.
At the press conference, the leaders of MBCB also complained that there is an attempt to form a new syndicate in the country’s mobile market centered on the implementation of the NEIR. They claim that a circle is trying to form a syndicate to protect the interests of only 30 percent of the influential businessmen, leaving 60-70 percent of the country’s mobile businessmen out of the process.
The businessmen do not want the NEIR to be completely abolished; They said they want its restructuring. They put forward 7 proposals, including extending the implementation of NEIR by at least one year (during this period, the sales receipt should be considered a valid registration document) and allowing a maximum of 10 smartphones to be registered with one NID.
