Premium smartphone prices expected to fall as import duty drops to 10%

Locally assembled handsets priced above Tk 30,000 will also see price relief as component duties fall

The interim government has reduced import duty on mobile phones, a move expected to lower prices of handsets in the domestic market.

The import duty on mobile handsets has been cut to 10 percent from 25 percent, bringing down the combined burden of customs duty, advance tax and VAT on imported phones from 61.80 percent to 43.43 percent.

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) expects the change to reduce the price of imported smartphones priced above Tk 30,000 by around Tk 5,500.

In a parallel step, duty on components imported by local mobile phone assemblers has been reduced to 5 percent from 10 percent.

As a result, the prices of locally assembled phones in the same price bracket are likely to fall by about Tk 1,500, according to the revenue authority.

The NBR announced the decisions through two separate notifications issued on Tuesday.

The duty cuts follow an earlier government decision, taken on the first day of the year, to provide tax relief on imported mobile phones and locally produced handset components in an effort to bring prices down.

That decision came amid protests by traders over the introduction of the National Equipment Identity Register (NEIR) with the issue discussed at a meeting of the Advisory Council on Jan 1.

The NBR said the sharp reduction in duties would help keep mobile phone prices within the purchasing capacity of consumers and make access to digital services easier for citizens.

It added that efforts to ensure affordable handset prices would continue.

The introduction of the NEIR system has brought the issue of high import duties back into focus.

Alongside tackling tax evasion, the government says the registration system is designed to stop the entry of “low-quality and illegally imported phones” into the market.

Once fully enforced, only officially approved handsets will be able to connect to mobile networks. Phones already in use before the NEIR rollout will not be disconnected.

Traders operating in the grey market have staged several programmes against the system, including a blockade and a siege of the BTRC office on Dec 7, 2025.

Following the protests, the telecom regulator pushed back the NEIR launch by 15 days to Jan 1.

Traders have also been allowed to sell previously imported handsets until Mar 15.