Nepal is implementing an electronic system that will block from 16 July all mobile handsets which were purchased without a bill or smuggled into the country. The new system will help authorities not only to check the grey market but also enable it to block stolen handsets. 

The new system, the Mobile Device Management System, is being implemented by the Nepal Telecommunication Authority and took around two years to develop. It cost around $5.4 million, reported The Kathmandu Post.

The system will be synced to a database called the Equipment Identity Register that contains records of legal and illegal mobile devices in the country. The device management system is also expected to identify cloned, low-cost copy versions of branded phones with fake registration numbers. 

“It might take one and a half months to get the system working in a full-fledged manner,'' Purshotam Khanal, the head of the country’s telecom regular, was quoted as saying by The Kathmandu Post. 

Furthermore, travelers entering the country will be allowed to enter with just one handset with the original bill. In case of more than one set, they will be charged customs duty. Also, they will be required to register the handset with the new system. 

For years, local mobile dealers had been complaining about the flooding of smuggled handsets in the country, bringing their sales down. Also, the government, too, loses substantive revenue in this way. 

The guideline says that a one-time registration fee for each mobile device imported into Nepal, either by authorized importers or by an individual for personal use, may be applicable as prescribed by the authority.

Thousands of Nepalis cross the Indo-Nepal border on a regular basis. Illegal handsets enter the country in hand baggage, and no customs duty is paid on them.