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Mobile Phone Sales Going Down in Nepal
Reports by NTA point towards a frustrating reality for Nepali smartphone importers.
You would expect the sales of mobile devices to get better by time in Nepal considering the new smartphone brands coming to Nepal along with the recent improvements of the telcos. But, according to a report by the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA), it can be observed that the sales of smartphones in Nepal is declining.
The report compares the three-year report with data from official distributors. It is to be noted that this report does not take into account the sales and import of smartphones in the grey market. Grey markets still contribute to a large chunk of the Nepali smartphone market.
| Year | Number of IMEIs registered by Importers |
Number of IMEIs registered by Individuals |
|---|---|---|
| 2073 BS | 9,994,764 | 4062 |
| 2074 BS | 9,574,588 | 1240 |
| 2075 BS | 8,911,487 | 2570 |
Do take into note that these numbers relate to the number of registered IMEI numbers. Since most smartphones today have dual SIM support with dual IMEIs, these numbers do not directly relate to the number of handset sales.
Reasons For This Decrement in Sales
Many factors can come into play when talking about sales and the market. The report only focuses on three years. Many people only upgrade their smartphones every 2-3 years. Well, the period for phone upgrade may have slowed down further. If this report focused on a larger timeframe, a better conclusion could have been drawn from it.
Also, as I mentioned above, grey markets still contribute a lot to smartphone sales in Nepal. This report still misses out on these unauthorized smartphone imports.
No matter what the issues are, it is still very evident that even authorized smartphone imports are lowering in imports.
Conclusion
With the recent budget announcement for the fiscal year 2076-77, tax on smartphone sales has been reduced to a good degree. Will this attract more consumers along with better smartphone imports? While this has a good possibility, only time will tell for sure.
Well, these were our views regarding this situation. If you have any other different or unique views, drop them in the comments below.
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