Better late than never! The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) seems to have finally realised its authority to regulate the market for mobile phone sales.
PTA has recently directed all mobile phone manufacturers, authorised importers and distributors to approach it for "type approval". This approval will certify the vendors, based on certain regulatory, technical and safety requirements. This is in accordance with the section 29 of the Telecom Act [1996], which requires all terminal telecom equipment to be type approved by PTA.
But, the certification for mobile phones has remained pending for quite some time now. That naturally resulted in a fairly loose market for handset sales, which has given rise to certain nagging issues (though it somewhat helped in increasing availability of mobile phones in different price ranges.)
First of all, unbridled handset sales have created a law-and-order issue in Pakistan. The influx of all kinds of mobile phones in the local market is said to include those handsets that have no IMEI tracking number. IMEI, which stands for "International Mobile Equipment Identity", is akin to a unique numeric identity which every handset is assigned upon its manufacturing.
The IMEIs are recorded and saved in international databases that are accessible to regional and national law enforcement agencies. IMEIs are instrumental in the instances of stolen handsets and where crime is initiated using a mobile phone.
The Pakistani government maintains that cellular curfews every now and then are prompted due to miscreants using mobile phones that cannot be tracked (due to no IMEIs) and Sims that are illegal or unregistered.
To tackle the IMEI problem, PTA has now reportedly engaged Pakistan Customs to block the shipments of vendors who have not provided PTA with the design specifications and the IMEI details of their imported handsets. Similarly, in last few months, market sources have reported FIA-led crackdown on second-hand sales of mobile phones having no IMEIs, in the bid to curb their use in criminal activities.
The second consequence of lax handset sales regulation is the ballooning mobile phone import bill. Pakistan Bureau of Statistics data showed mobile phone imports at $614 million for FY13. That number has slightly increased this year, tallying to $218 million for the July-October period so far this year. This sizable import quantum may start going down once only the registered players get to serve the market.
One welcomes the PTA directives in the hope of strict follow through on them. It must be noted, though, that while the new directives may help address law and order concerns, they may cause affordability concerns for mass market, which relies on cheap handsets of little-known manufacturers (especially of the Chinese origin) which usually don come with the IMEIs.
But thats a trade-off that has to be made. And who knows the new market dynamics (upcoming 3G auction and certified mobile handset sales regime) may actually lead to more competition among existing vendors and thus induce lower prices in the future!