Azernews.Az

By Nigar Abbasova

Azerbaijan recorded an increase in the volume of import of mobile phones and other portable communication devices.

The State Statistics Committee reported that the number of imported devices in the country amounted to 256,153 units in January-September 2016, recording an 18-fold increase, as compared to the figures fixed in 2015.

The total worth of the imported goods stood at $24.4 million. Some 13,885 devices were imported to the country in January-September 2014.

The IMEI-code registration system for mobile phones in Azerbaijan was launched in May, 2013. The total number of devices that have passed the registration in the database is over 15 million. Mobile devices imported into Azerbaijan for private use should go through registration process within 30 days.

Registration of mobile devices is available on the Electronic Government (e-gov.az) portal, on imei.az and Azerpost offices of the country. This service is provided all day long. In case a foreigner uses international roaming services within territory of Azerbaijan through the SIM-card belonging to a foreign mobile operator, there is no need to register IMEI-code of the mobile phone.

Recently there was announced that classified import duty rates maybe applied in the country for mobile phones. The volume of the duties is expected to vary depending on the devices of high, medium and low price segments. The price range of mobile phones currently available on the Azerbaijani market roughly varies between $30 and $930.

Mobile subscriber base of the country exceeds 10 million, while mobile penetration level currently stands at over 110 percent. The number of mobile broadband subscribers in the country is growing at an annual rate of nearly 15 percent.

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Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova

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