Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 8
By Huseyn Veliyev – Trend:
Errors have been revealed in the system of registration of IMEI codes of mobile devices in Azerbaijan, which are successfully used by illegal suppliers, a source in the official distribution market told Trend.
The Trend source said the market of illegal deliveries still prevails and unfortunately the situation does not improve despite the fact that the country has adopted new rules for registering mobile devices.
"Many people are still importing devices under the pretense of personal use, which then go to sale. There are facts when a mobile phone is registered for 20 manats, while it officially costs 50 manats. This happens because the unscrupulous importers know that the IMEI codes of mobile phones of the same model differ and one of them is completely absent in the system. That is, for example, an IMEI code recorded in the system and starting with the number 351 is registered for 50 manats and an IMEI code starting with the number 352, not recorded in the system, is registered for 20 manats. Therefore, the suitcase traders deliver the model the IMEI code of which starts with 352," the source said.
Also the unscrupulous suppliers, the source said, replace the IMEI codes of new devices with those that are already registered in the system and are in circulation, while the new devices are sold without registration. These are mainly the mobile devices imported from Georgia.
"An equally important question is related to certification of certain models of devices imported into the country. AzInTelecom is engaged in certification. There are cases when we are refused certification referring to the fact that the devices have not passed laboratory tests and that they allegedly do not meet local standards."
"This undoubtedly refers to the smartphones designed for the international market. In this case, it remains a mystery what standards we are talking about if these devices meet the international standards," the source said.
(1.7 AZN = 1 USD on November 8)
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