July 18: Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) has started using a new technology to prevent the illegal operation of mobile phone sets in the country.

The telecom governing body has installed the 'Mobile Device Management System (MDMS)' to act against the illegal phone calls starting from July 16.

The decision was taken in line with the budget announcement made by the then finance minister Bishnu Poudel to implement the MDMS starting from the current fiscal year.

The system requires registration of the IMEI number of mobile sets from the NTA before importing those sets to Nepal.

Issuing a notice on Friday, the NTA said that commercial importers have to register the IMEI number in the first phase while this provision will be fully implemented later to make the import systematic and secure. NTA further said that the implementation of MDMS would make no difference for the operation of the currently active mobile phones.

For the time being, the registration of mobile phone sets purchased at the individual level can be registered through the NTA's website https://eir.nta.gov.np/individual/register, the notice further said.    
The system bars the use of telecommunications service from those mobile phone sets that have been imported by evading tax, manufactured through duplication and the sets that have been stolen.