From today, Nepal Telecommunication Authority has made IMEI registration mandatory for mobile phones. Santosh Paudel, spokesperson of the Authority, informed that this technology and rules, which will make it easier to arrest those involved in criminal activities, along with the control and regulation of mobile phones entering Nepal by evading revenue to the state, have been strictly implemented from today.
Although this rule has been in place for a long time, Paudel says that it has been tightened recently. According to him, the mobile phone bought directly from abroad will work only after registering it online with the authority.
Although this rule is not strictly applicable to the currently operating mobiles, this rule will be strictly applied to the mobiles that are in operation from today. The authority said that since mobiles bought in Nepal are registered by the company importing them to Nepal, all information about them is with the authority and there is no information about mobiles brought from outside, criminal activities are also carried out from such mobiles and mobile registration is mandatory to control them.
Meen Prasad Aryal, director of the Telecommunication Authority, informed that there is no problem with the mobile phones that have been in operation since July 1, but from now on, mobile phones will not be able to operate on Nepal’s network without IMEI registration.
Aryal said that since the recording of mobile phones bought by paying revenue in Nepal is with the authority, this rule is going to be strictly enforced to stop the service of mobile phones that have been imported by defrauding the revenue.
