Since October 2023, Tajikistan has required that each mobile device brought into the country from abroad must have its International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) — a 15-digit number unique to each device — registered within 30 days.
According to Radio Liberty, corporate documents and other open-source records show that the ultimate beneficiary of this agreement is a Tajik conglomerate called Avesto Group.
The company's director-general is Muhammad Mirzo, a former deputy chairman of Tajikistan's National Olympic Committee.
Avesto Group reportedly benefits from the mandatory IMEI registration through two of its subsidiaries: Net Solutions, the Dushanbe-based technology company that was awarded the tender to run the registration process; and Dushanbe City Bank, a lender to which the registration fees are paid.
RFE/RL says the fee for IMEI registration in Tajikistan is 50 somonis, or around US$4.5, per device. In August, Deputy State Customs Committee Head Azim Tursunzoda said more than 757,000 mobile phones and tablets were imported into Tajikistan from October 2023 to June 2024. Over 525,000 were subject to taxes and registration fees, the official said.
The registration fees based on the official's figures total over 26.3 million somonis (around US$2.4 million) in the eight-month period after the rule came into force. Tursunzoda also said the state received more than US$11 million in customs duties on these devices during that period.
In March 2020, the Tajik government first ordered the IMEI registration of all mobile phones and tablets that enter the country, with unregistered devices automatically suspended after 30 days. The process had been carried out by mobile phone service providers free of charge.
Officials at the communications service agency first announced in February 2021 that a "private company" had been selected to operate the IMEI registration. But the officials declined to name the company despite repeated media inquiries.
Only two years later, in April 2023, did the government agency reveal that Net Solutions had been awarded the contract.
RFE/RL notes that incorporated in 2016, Avesto Group currently owns an array of firms and business projects, including flour and meat production, industrial explosives, manufacturing, banking, and mining.
