Kathmandu, December 4

Domestic mobile phone importers today established the Mobile Phone Importers’ Association (MPIA) under the leadership of Deepak Malhotra, chairman of Integrated Mobility Solutions, which is the authorised importer and distributor of Samsung mobile phones in Nepal.

Organising a press conference today, mobile phone importers said that the need for such an umbrella body representing domestic importers of mobile phones was felt to address challenges that have arisen due to the expansion of the grey market of mobile phones in Nepal.

“Only 25 per cent of the country’s population had access to mobile phones in 2000. Today, hundred per cent of the country’s population has access to mobile phones and other communication means,” said Malhotra. “Importers and mobile phone dealers have been able to cope with the various challenges that have emerged with the growth in market, but a collective effort is needed to discourage grey market of mobile phones, which is a threat to country’s peace and security,” he added.

As per importers, there are more than 30 million mobile phone users in the country. “As importers are now united, we will coordinate with the government to engage in constant monitoring to control the flow of illegally imported mobile phones,” mentioned Malhotra.

Vice President of MPIA Sanjay Agrawal said that controlling the grey market of mobile phones in the country would have a positive impact on government revenue and the country’s overall economy. “MPIA aims to make Nepal’s mobile phone industry more responsible and disciplined.”

Gionee, Colors, Samsung, Lenovo, CG, Huawei, HTC, Lava, Xiaomi, Videocon, ZTE, Oppo, Sony, Spice, OBI, Nokia, Karbonn, DTC, Panasonic, Apple and Micromax, among others are members of MPIA.

Though there were other associations of mobile phone dealers in the market earlier, MPIA said that they were now in a defunct state.

According to mobile phone importers, more than 4,000 people are engaged in the mobile business across the country. As an important sector to generate government revenue, they said that more than Rs two billion revenue was paid to the government by mobile phone importers last year under different headings. Importers have claimed that government revenue from this sector will rise by 25 per cent this year.

Meanwhile, Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) has been running a campaign to register mobile phones available in the market from May. The NTA move aims to control grey mobile phone market by making phones that are not registered defunct in the long run.