Behind Soaring Mobile Phone Prices: Four Companies Control the Market!

When three or four companies control the mobile phone market, competition dies, prices rise, and rents are paid from the buyer's pocket. This is therefore not merely an administrative violation; its direct result is felt by the public in the price of phones.

According to the economic correspondent of Ambassador Arjan, the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Trade has implemented a mechanism called "Exceptions" in the process of importing mobile phones since 1403. A mechanism that was supposed to be used for specific and limited cases, but was implemented without clear criteria, and the result of this tasteful procedure was the creation of a monopoly in the import of mobile phones and its concentration in the hands of four specific companies.

The Court of Accounts continued to enter the mechanism of "application of exceptions" in the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Trade; A tasteful and unfounded procedure in the Ministry of Privacy, without clear criteria, had created a monopoly in the import of mobile phones and its concentration in the hands of four specific companies since 1403. In one of the examples of this violation, the registration of an order worth more than 96 million dollars or more than a quarter of the allowed quota without observing the legal limit, without including the product's 8-digit identifier and base code, and only based on a formal commitment, was handed over. The project has not yet made any physical progress.

The main issue here is that exception is not illegal in itself and there are exceptions in every administrative structure. But the exception is legitimate only when its rules are clear, written and can be monitored, and when the exception does not have a clear rule, it becomes a tool, and the tool without supervision is the open door to monopoly.

But the biggest wound of this story is that the result of this procedure has been the unequal distribution of business opportunities, because when an import quota reaches only four companies, that means the rest of the economic actors have been removed from the market, not because of inefficiency, but because of the lack of access to "exception".

But the more important issue here is that its value is more than 96 million dollars and more than a quarter of the total quota is allowed, which is exceeding the legal limit, not including the basic 8-digit identifier and code of the goods, relying on the formal obligation to build an agricultural and industrial complex, as a result of this project there is no physical progress, and this means that an order of 96 million dollars is placed only on the basis of a promise; A promise that was never fulfilled.

The basic 8-digit product code (HS Code), which is a tracking and control tool in customs, is not included on these phones, which makes it possible to move goods under the cover of general order registration, lack of accurate tracking in the next steps such as import, distribution, and pricing, as well as the conditions for abuse to bypass tariffs and legal regulations.

On the other hand, the model of commitment to build the project means receiving the import quota, and if there is real supervision, it is not a bad policy, but the problem is that this commitment does not have any implementation or measurement requirements, for example, if the project does not progress, who will follow up? Or if it is not followed up, it becomes a formal commitment, or if it is a formal commitment, the quota is practically given free of charge, so the commitment is just a piece of paper without a guarantee of implementation.

Who is the signatory of 96 million dollars?

But this problem reduces the competition and raises the price for the consumer, and further excludes the small importers from the competition. In the continuation of this process, the legal ceilings become ineffective and the supervisory institutions act weaker day by day, and in the end, public mistrust and the feeling of commercial injustice will lead to violations and administrative corruption.

When three or four companies take over the mobile phone market, the price competition decreases and the consumer price increases, as a result the variety of goods decreases and new models are introduced later.

But the important question here is who signed the 96 million dollar decision? Or who is responsible for the unfulfilled commitment? It is better for the Ministry of Security to stop the exception mechanism until the new rules are clarified, and also, this ministry, in cooperation with customs, should take action as soon as possible to cancel the registration of orders issued on the basis of a formal commitment, and the Court of Accounts and the National Inspection Organization should also identify and appoint the person responsible for signing the order of 96 million dollars, and in case of violation, the case should be sent to judicial authorities, and further, the customs should require the 8-digit product code to be entered for all order registrations.