{"id":291445,"date":"2025-11-30T13:27:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T13:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/291445\/"},"modified":"2025-11-30T13:27:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T13:27:09","slug":"many-mobile-phone-shops-closed-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/291445\/","title":{"rendered":"Many mobile phone shops closed today"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Many mobile phone shops, especially in Dhaka, were closed today in protest against the government&#8217;s move to block unauthorised handsets from 16 December using the National Equipment Identity Register (NEIR).<\/p>\n<p>NEIR is a system that records and verifies the unique IMEI numbers of mobile handsets. It blocks illegal, cloned, or unregistered devices, preventing them from accessing mobile networks once enforcement begins.<\/p>\n<p><a style=\"font-weight:400; color:#4285F3; border-bottom: 1px dotted #4285F3; font-size: 18px;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAiECW73usLivqPCSeQRsSUvRQqFAgKIhAlu97rC4r6jwknkEbElL0U\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thedailystar.net\/sites\/all\/themes\/tds\/images\/google_news.svg\" alt=\"Google News Link\" style=\"display: inline-block; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: -3px; height: 30px;\"\/>For all latest news, follow The Daily Star&#8217;s Google News channel. <\/a><\/p>\n<p>Md Kabir, an owner of a shop at Bashundhara City in Dhaka, said he and his colleagues have kept their stores closed since morning.<\/p>\n<p>We want the government to reduce the current tax rate and bring us under their rules and regulations, said Kabir, who has been selling mobile handsets for a decade.<\/p>\n<p>The closure is part of a nationwide protest announced by the Mobile Business Community Bangladesh (MBCB), said its acting president, Shamim Mollah.<\/p>\n<p>He said NEIR needs urgent reform.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;NEIR must be restructured. We also want to pay tax,&#8221; the acting president said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;BTRC should also remove the barriers to importing phones legally.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He said that small traders cannot meet requirements such as obtaining a mother company&#8217;s certificate to import devices like the iPhone. Import duties stand at 58 percent, while local assemblers enjoy significant tax breaks.<\/p>\n<p>Asked whether this makes them illegal importers, he said they are not illegal, but they buy phones that come through &#8220;luggage baggage&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>However, authorised sellers and local manufacturers have not announced any closure.<\/p>\n<p>MBCB claims a group of around 11 large businesses has formed a syndicate controlling imports and distribution, putting small and medium traders at risk.<\/p>\n<p>However, authorised sellers and local manufacturers have not announced any closure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Many mobile phone shops, especially in Dhaka, were closed today in protest against the government&#8217;s move to block&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291446,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[118082,118088,118087,2306,118080,118085,118076,118081,118079,118077,118086,86,56,118078,54,55,118084,118083],"class_list":{"0":"post-291445","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-btrc-phone-import-barriers","9":"tag-buying-phones-through-luggage-baggage-bangladesh","10":"tag-import-duties-on-mobile-phones-bangladesh","11":"tag-mobile","12":"tag-mobile-business-community-bangladesh-mbcb","13":"tag-mobile-business-community-bangladesh-protest-neir","14":"tag-mobile-phone-shop-closure-dhaka","15":"tag-mobile-phone-tax-rate-bangladesh","16":"tag-national-equipment-identity-register-neir","17":"tag-neir-bangladesh-protest","18":"tag-small-traders-cannot-meet-requirements-to-import-phones-legally","19":"tag-technology","20":"tag-uk","21":"tag-unauthorised-handsets-bangladesh","22":"tag-united-kingdom","23":"tag-unitedkingdom","24":"tag-what-is-national-equipment-identity-register-neir","25":"tag-why-are-mobile-phone-shops-closed-in-dhaka-today"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}