Lack of IMEI controls doubles the import of Chinese mobiles in India
A recent report by the Indian Cellular Association (ICA) has revealed that imports of unbranded Chinese made mobile phones into India nearly doubled in 2010, despite a ban on most imports due to lack of IMEI controls. During the year, imports reached 38 million, an increase from 20 million in 2009, and then 5.5 million in 2007.
According to the report, although mobile phone manufacturing has increased by leaps and bounds as compared to zero production a couple of years ago, the industry continues to face challenges from the huge unbridled influx of the substandard, unbranded Chinese phones into India. Even today, approximately 3 – 3.5 million substandard mobile phones are imported into India each month.
To race against the lower-cost Chinese imports, Indian manufacturers have been lobbying for tax breaks, and lower taxes on handset sales.
Indian Cellular Association added that manufacturing involves huge investments and skilled manpower but there are no tax benefits for the industry, except for the SEZs. Tax holidays, available to other key sectors such as infrastructure and power, should also be available to mobile phone manufacturing to be globally competitive. The industry is labor-intensive and has a good multiplier effect in terms of consumer welfare gains, specially education and efficiency of time.
The government banned the sale of handsets without a locked IMEI serial number following several terrorist attacks that were harder to trace due to the lack of serial numbers in the phones used by the suspects. The majority of phones lacking an IMEI had come from China.
Peruvian WiMAX launch to go ahead in 2011
Perusat aims to cover seven Peruvian cities with its new WiMAX network by May 2011, having inked network equipment deals with ZTE, which will provide financing for the majority of the required equipment.
The company has not yet set dates for the project, but Jose Aranda operations director of ChinaTel, the U.S.-based company that acquired mobile broadband licensee Perusat in March 2009, told BNamericas last week that it will cover the whole country in three phases.
According to reports, phase one encompasses the seven most populated cities of Peru except Lima. Phase two includes Lima and Callao, and phase three will cover the rest of the country.
Last week ChinaTel announced that Perusat and ZTE have brokered a deal that will see the Chinese vendor become the telco’s exclusive supplier of network gear and consumer terminals, plus engineering and management services for the project.
The seven-year deal is worth around $48 million, $6.98 million of which went on purchase orders for the first phase. ZTE will finance 85% of the cost of phase one infrastructure, while future equipment orders will be financed by Chinese banks with which ZTE has existing relationships.
The phase one deployment will cover Piura, Trujillo, Chiclayo, Chimbote, Arequipa, Cuzco and Ica.
