Fake handsets flood market

Md Sadekuzzaman, a private jobholder, recently chanced upon a 40 percent discount for the revamped Nokia 3310 handset on Facebook.

Too good to pass up, Sadekuzzaman did not waste any time in placing an order for himself, even sending in Tk 100 as booking fee through the mobile financial service.

Two days later, he was informed that his phone had arrived at a nearby courier service depot; he would have to pay the value of the set, which is Tk 2,990, to take delivery.

He did as instructed and when he opened the box he found that he was sold a fake Nokia 3310. Since he had already opened the box, he could not return the set or get his money back.

Sadekuzzaman's was not an isolated incident. Counterfeit handsets have found their way into the local market through the illegal channels, with one of them being a Facebook page named 'Nokia Bangladesh'.

On July 23, the page made its first post about the offers and shared two mobile numbers, 01982189444 and 01743873964.

When one calls on the number to enquire about the offers and the handsets, they give assurances that the items can be returned and a full refund would be given. In reality, this does not happen.

Nokia has learnt about the duplicitous dealings of the businesses and is planning to launch an awareness campaign so that customers do not fall into their trap.

Farhan Rashid, head of business at Nokia, said they are trying to get the law enforcing agencies involved to address the issue.

Nokia faced similar problems before, when the handset maker was the undisputed market leader.

“Years back, when our market share was around 80 percent, we first found out about this fake handset business -- they were spreading their word through SMS then, and now they are using Facebook.”

This time, Nokia is determined to get to the bottom of the matter.

“We are trying to detect the origin of these fake handsets but the traders change their location so often that it is very difficult to pinpoint them,” Rashid added.

It is not just Nokia devices, the other brands' handsets are also being counterfeited. Besides, there is another underground marketplace where refurnished handsets are sold as brand new.

Market insiders said reports of such incidents are being heard of more frequently nowadays and they blame it on the government raising the tax on handset imports through the legal channel.

At present, handset imports are subjected to about 30 percent tax.

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission and the law enforcement agencies ran different drives against the fake handset businesses and even seized thousands of units. But the situation did not improve definitely as the drives were not conducted on a regular basis.

A top official of the Bangladesh Mobile Phone Importers Association (BMPIA) said they are assuming that more than 30 percent of the handsets in the market are brought into the country illegally, and those are sold through Facebook or other channels.

As this parallel marketplace grows in popularity, imports through the legal channel will definitely decline, he added.

Ashraful Haque, marketing director of Edison Group, the parent company of handset market leader Symphony, said they are concerned about this trend.

Last year, mobile handset imports through the legal channel stood at 3.1 crore pieces, up 11 percent year-on-year, according to BMPIA statistics. Of the volume, 82 lakh units were smartphones.