December 26: Nepal Telecommunication Authority (NTA) has called for registration of mobile phones by December 30. The authority published a notice on Saturday stating that it will fully implement the Mobile Device Management System (MDMS) from December 30.

The authority informed that MDMS was implemented prior to this as a test to discourage and manage the illegal import, sale, distribution and use of mobile sets and to further track and block stolen and lost mobile sets.

In accordance to the Customs Act, 2064, the authority has requested Nepalese coming from abroad to update the system of their mobile phone brought for personal use if they have not registered it in the MDMS yet.

According to the rules, mobile phone sets that have not been declared at the customs will not be registered from December 30 onwards and the operation of such mobile sets will also be banned. So, the authority has requested to go to MDMS and register such mobile sets brought for personal use along with the passport/citizenship/national identity card.

Even when buying a mobile phone within Nepal, it is possible to confirm whether the mobile set is registered with the Nepal Telecommunication Authority's MDMS system or not. Thus, the authority mentioned in the notice that mobile importers and sellers must take the pre-approval of the authority before importing mobile phones.