The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) plans to relaunch the National Equipment Identity Register (NEIR) in two phases from January 1 to curb annual revenue losses of around Tk2,000 crore caused by illegal mobile phone manufacturing, smuggling and unauthorised sales.
According to BSS, an assessment by the National Board of Revenue (NBR), cited in a working paper presented at a BTRC meeting, found that illegal handsets were causing significant revenue losses for the government.
Under the first phase, the core functions of NEIR will be activated, but handset deregistration will remain suspended. All currently active handsets will be registered automatically, while the IMEI details of unsold handsets held by authorised importers and domestic manufacturers will also be incorporated into the system.
The system will also include provisions to block illegal handsets imported through smuggling or tax evasion.
In the second phase, to be introduced at a later date, the BTRC plans to introduce handset deregistration to verify ownership, detect cloned devices and prevent financial fraud.
NEIR was first launched on a trial basis on July 1, 2021. However, the government later suspended automatic handset blocking and clone-prevention measures.
The NBR renewed efforts to introduce the system on October 29, 2024, followed by the Posts and Telecommunications Division on June 28, 2025.
After directives issued at an inter-ministerial meeting on December 1, 2025, and recommendations from security agencies and inter-ministerial consultations in June and July 2026, a high-level meeting chaired by the home minister on September 22 made the final recommendation to launch NEIR.
Security agencies have warned that unregistered and smuggled handsets are being used in organised crime and mobile financial service fraud, underscoring the need to introduce the system.
Meanwhile, the BTRC has approved a roadmap to phase out handsets that support only 2G networks by December 2029.