The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology on Tuesday launched a new electronic system to enhance governance, encourage and localize the mobile industry in Egypt, as part of the application of fees on imported mobile phones.
The two ministries announced that fees and customs tax on imported mobile phones will be as they are and have not changed, and that every citizen coming from abroad is entitled to a mobile phone “exempted” from custom fees for personal use for a transitional period of three months.
Citizens will be allowed to register their imported mobile phones in the new electronic system via the Telephony application without the need to refer to customs employees, they added, and they can inquire about the value of the fees due and pay them online within a period extending – for the first time – to three months via the Telephony application.
The Telephony application includes governance, inquiry, registration and electronic payment of any fees due.
It also aids in protecting citizens from smuggled, counterfeit and non-compliant mobile phones by enabling electronic inquiry about the codes of original devices via the application.
The new system applies to new mobile phones imported from abroad and does not apply to current mobile phones that were previously purchased from the local market or from abroad and were activated before January 1, 2025, as this system is not applied retroactively.
The electronic system works to ensure fair competition and confront illegal practices in the communications market for the benefit of citizens, investors and the Egyptian economy, and to support efforts to provide locally manufactured “mobile phones” with high quality and competitive prices that encourage export.
It also takes into account that a large number of international companies have begun manufacturing mobile phones of various types in the Egyptian market.
