{"id":17398,"date":"2025-08-07T16:02:33","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T14:02:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/?p=17398"},"modified":"2026-10-08T00:16:02","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T22:16:02","slug":"phone-tax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/phone-tax\/","title":{"rendered":"Egypt\u2019s Telephony App: Surprise Phone Charges Leave Traders and Customers in Limbo"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over recent months, Mohamed Essam, who owns a mobile-phone shop in Mansoura, bought handsets from customers after checking their status on the government\u2019s Telephony app. The app showed no outstanding charges. A week ago, he says, some of those phones lost access to mobile networks and were assigned substantial fees.<\/p>\n

Essam is far from alone. Traders and customers describe phones sold as exempt subsequently being blocked, leaving shopkeepers caught between buyers demanding refunds and the people who originally sold them the devices.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I tell the original seller that a tax has appeared on the phone, he simply says: \u2018You checked it at the time and there were no charges. The rest is none of my business,\u2019\u201d Essam tells Zawia3. \u201cAs shop owners, we are stuck in the middle. We cannot return the phones to the sellers, and we have no solution for customers whose devices have stopped working or who have been surprised by high charges.\u201d<\/p>\n

One handset, he says, was assessed at EGP 24,710, although he had checked that it carried no fees before buying it. He calls the unexpected assessments arbitrary and urges the government to intervene before the dispute inflicts further losses on businesses already facing direct confrontations with their customers.<\/p>\n

Other shopkeepers in several governorates have temporarily closed their businesses in protest. They describe the charges as retroactive; the National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA), meanwhile, says it has been investigating improperly obtained exemptions and restoring service to phones found eligible. That distinction lies at the heart of the dispute.<\/p>\n

A tax bill many times the profit<\/h2>\n

Amir Shawky, a phone-shop owner in Sohag, says most shops in his area stopped trading for several days because of the losses. Customers returned with phones they had bought months earlier, holding retailers responsible when the handsets stopped connecting to mobile networks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI bought 18 devices myself, and the app clearly showed that they were not subject to any charges,\u201d he says. \u201cBut one or two months later, taxes appeared while they were with the customers. Customers do not accept that these are government decisions; they come straight back to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cOn an iPhone 13 Pro Max, I had made only EGP 1,000, while the tax imposed was EGP 20,250\u2014twenty times the profit margin. That makes it impossible to keep trading.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Shawky puts the combined charges on the 18 phones at about EGP 350,000, against profits of no more than EGP 18,000. He describes himself as a small trader and warns that businesses holding hundreds of devices face much larger exposure.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince I closed the shop, customers have been contacting me every day because their phones have stopped working. If I have to bear these amounts, I will go bankrupt,\u201d he says. He has asked customers either to return the devices in the condition in which they bought them or to wait in the hope of a government response.<\/p>\n

He expects the disruption to affect consumers through higher prices as well. Arguments have broken out in shops, he says, while the inconsistent treatment of seemingly similar handsets has intensified confusion. According to his account, some phones registered against passengers\u2019 passports, with charges paid at airports, stopped working, while others continued to operate.<\/p>\n

Shawky understands the system to concern devices brought into Egypt after 1 January 2025, rather than their model or year of manufacture. But he questions how registration is recorded, saying some phones were treated as non-compliant because an Egyptian SIM had been inserted before the airport registration was completed.<\/p>\n

A predictable charge would at least allow traders to plan, he argues. Buying a handset for EGP 62,000 and then facing an additional EGP 20,500 bill, however, creates a burden that neither shopkeepers nor their customers can easily absorb. He calls for a fair solution to what he sees as a threat to the sector\u2019s survival.<\/p>\n

In Assiut, shop owner Ahmed Raafat describes similar losses. He closed his business and left the governorate for a few days to avoid confrontations with customers seeking refunds on phones purchased before the new assessments appeared.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe bought the phones from customers and traders, checked them through the official programme, and they were not subject to tax. We sold them at market prices on that basis,\u201d he tells Zawia3. \u201cThen we were surprised by charges on devices that had already been activated at airports using passports, putting us in a complicated position.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raafat says other shops joined the stoppage. He cannot yet quantify his own losses, but says the lack of advance warning and a clear explanation has left retailers unable to reassure their customers.<\/p>\n

\"An
An image circulated on social media showing mobile-phone shops during a stoppage.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The immediate controversy followed messages instructing users to pay charges on devices operating with local SIM cards. Traders say this conflicted with earlier assurances that phones activated before 1 January 2025 would not be covered by the new registration arrangements.<\/p>\n

Egypt introduced the Telephony registration system at the turn of 2025 to regulate phones arriving from abroad and collect the applicable taxes and fees, generally described as totalling 38.5% of a device\u2019s assessed value. The arrangements included a 90-day grace period and an exemption for a personal handset accompanying a passenger during the system\u2019s trial phase.<\/p>\n

On 5 April, the NTRA reminded users with outstanding fees<\/a> that two days remained before the announced deadline, after which non-compliant, unpaid devices would be blocked on Egypt\u2019s mobile networks.<\/p>\n

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Egyptians abroad caught in the confusion<\/h2>\n

The complaints extend beyond traders and consumers living in Egypt. Some Egyptians abroad say they have been assessed for phones they use outside the country.<\/p>\n

Ahmed Ali, who lives overseas, tells Zawia3 that his phone had not entered Egypt at all. He says he had used an Egyptian SIM in it only through international roaming.<\/p>\n

\u201cI live abroad and visit Egypt for only one month a year. I use an Egyptian number overseas through international roaming. How can I be charged for a device that has not operated inside Egypt?\u201d he asks. Using an Egyptian SIM while roaming, he points out, does not establish that the handset has entered the country.<\/p>\n

Even during his annual visit, Ali says, he needs his phone for only a short period. He argues for a straightforward temporary-exemption mechanism for expatriates using their own devices, suggesting a renewable three-month allowance linked to a national ID or passport.<\/p>\n

Arwa Adel, another Egyptian living abroad, describes a different registration problem. She says she arrived in Egypt on 1 July, inserted her Egyptian SIM to contact her family, and then registered the phone before leaving the airport. She was told the procedure had been completed correctly, but subsequently received a payment message with a 90-day deadline.<\/p>\n

According to Adel, the complaints service told her the problem arose because she had used the SIM before completing registration, even though both took place on the day of arrival. She asks why travellers are not given clear instructions before they connect their phones.<\/p>\n

She also worries about keeping her Egyptian line active between visits, saying this makes her keen to use it as soon as she arrives. Repeated WhatsApp messages and calls to the relevant authorities brought no answer, she says. She wants a simpler process that protects temporary visitors from unexpected interruptions.<\/p>\n

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Regulating imports, or penalising legitimate buyers?<\/h2>\n

In a statement issued on 26 July<\/a>, the chamber of commerce\u2019s mobile-phone and communications division backed government efforts to regulate imports and curb informal practices. At the same time, it called for strict adherence to Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly\u2019s assurance that the arrangements would not be applied retroactively.<\/p>\n

The division said traders and importers who had followed the rules in force before the new system should not suffer losses on earlier shipments. It urged continued coordination to balance market regulation with support for the communications sector.<\/p>\n

Ehab Saeed, head of the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce\u2019s General Division for Telecommunications and Financial Technology, sees the measures as a way to prevent smuggling and protect legitimate businesses from unfair competition. He says the system was announced at the start of the year, with a three-month grace period before unpaid devices would lose service.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of the phones that encountered problems over the charges were bought from individuals returning from abroad, without official invoices,\u201d Saeed tells Zawia3. He argues that retailers should protect themselves by buying from authorised agents or importers and obtaining proper documentation, just as consumers are advised to retain receipts.<\/p>\n

He accuses some traders of trying to circumvent the system by inserting SIM cards into unregistered phones during the grace period before putting the devices back on display. These are his allegations about particular practices, rather than a finding that every affected trader acted improperly.<\/p>\n

Saeed says approximately 690,000 devices entered the system, with 60,000 flagged for review and the outstanding problem eventually narrowed to 13,000. He also alleges that some people tried taking phones out of Egypt and bringing them back to obtain exemptions, arguing that network and registration records allow the authorities to detect such attempts.<\/p>\n

The NTRA\u2019s own statement<\/a> gives a different total for a specific category: about 650,000 handsets accompanying incoming passengers had received exemptions since the beginning of 2025. The regulator said that exemption remained in place during the trial period.<\/p>\n

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Of 60,000 devices blocked while their eligibility was investigated, the regulator said 47,000 were entitled to exemption and had been reconnected. It said the remaining 13,000 had obtained exemptions improperly and would stay blocked.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The figures show that most devices initially flagged in that review were ultimately found eligible. For traders and customers whose phones were interrupted, however, the review itself had already created uncertainty and disputes over who should bear the cost.<\/p>\n

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Calls to uphold the original cutoff<\/h2>\n

The Association of Tax and Investment Experts likewise called for the rules not to be applied retroactively<\/a>, arguing that doing so would conflict with established tax principles and damage Egypt\u2019s reputation. It urged adherence to the government\u2019s assurance regarding devices registered before 1 January 2025.<\/p>\n

Ashraf Abdel Ghani, the association\u2019s head, tells Zawia3 that tax obligations should run from the relevant legal starting date, rather than being extended into the past. The registration system at issue began in January 2025.<\/p>\n

He says the association also proposed allowing the personal-phone exemption once every three years, rather than once in a lifetime, to reflect the pace at which consumers replace their devices. This is a proposed change, not an established three-year entitlement demonstrated by the statement.<\/p>\n

Abdel Ghani links the disruption to the review of exemptions and suspected attempts to misrepresent when phones entered the country. His interview account refers to 45,000 restored lines; the NTRA\u2019s published figures, quoted above, instead identify 47,000 restored devices out of 60,000 checked.<\/p>\n

He puts the combined burden on imported handsets at 38.5%, comprising VAT, customs duties, a state-resources development levy and regulatory fees. The individual rates apply within a tax-calculation framework and should not be treated as a simple addition of percentages without their assessment bases.<\/p>\n

Abdel Ghani believes the charges encourage purchases of locally manufactured phones. He estimates that factories in Egypt, including facilities producing for Samsung and Oppo, can cover 80% of domestic demand, and argues that supporting local production would reduce pressure on foreign-currency reserves.<\/p>\n

Discussing shop closures in Beheira, Menoufia, Assiut and Sohag, he attributes the crisis to misunderstandings or manipulation of entry dates. He says businesses that have not paid required charges must take responsibility, while emphasising the need to protect consumers and apply the rules fairly.<\/p>\n

Adel Amer, a legal and economic commentator who heads the Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social Studies, also rejects the description of the measures as retroactive. He views them as part of a government effort to combat smuggling and regulate imported phones\u2019 access to Egyptian networks.<\/p>\n

Amer stresses the importance of declaring a personal handset at customs and completing the registration process before using it on a local network. He says assessments depend on records of entry and network activation, not simply on the status displayed by the app at a particular moment. He argues that later assessments can therefore reflect enforcement of existing conditions rather than a new tax on an earlier transaction.<\/p>\n

Some details in his account\u2014including a reference to January 2024 and an exemption every three years\u2014conflict with the January 2025 start of the system and with the association\u2019s presentation of a three-year exemption as a proposal. The contemporaneous NTRA statement confirms the trial-phase passenger exemption but does not establish that claimed three-year cycle.<\/p>\n

Amer\u2019s broader argument is that the relevant distinction is compliance, not whether the phone is new or second-hand. He urges affected users to take documents supporting their position to the responsible authorities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem is not the law itself, but the failure to follow the procedures from the outset,\u201d he says. \u201cAnyone who has been harmed should approach the competent authorities and provide evidence of their position.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A parliamentary challenge<\/h2>\n

MP Hisham Hussein has submitted a parliamentary question to the government, directed at the Finance Ministry, over what traders describe as retroactive assessments. He cites the Cairo chamber\u2019s objections and the prime minister\u2019s assurances.<\/p>\n

Hussein supports collecting duties on imported phones as part of the electronic system launched in January 2025 to curb customs evasion. His objection concerns people who bought devices lawfully, at substantial prices, after checking their status through the regulator\u2019s service and then faced another demand for payment.<\/p>\n

He calls on the government to review implementation and ensure that collection is not retroactive. For him, regulating imports does not justify leaving legitimate buyers to shoulder an unexpected second bill.<\/p>\n

The dispute leaves retailers and consumers between the government\u2019s campaign against smuggling and the immediate consequences of interrupted service and uncertain assessments. The regulator\u2019s restoration of 47,000 phones underscores the importance of accurate screening, accessible complaints procedures and a clear answer for buyers who relied on the official app. Until those concerns are resolved, the argument is about both the charges themselves and confidence in the system used to collect them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Phones shown as exempt were later blocked or assigned fees, traders say. Egypt\u2019s regulator says it restored 47,000 devices after reviewing exemptions, but retailers remain caught between sellers and angry customers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":11537,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[409],"tags":[],"kateb":[1550],"class_list":["post-17398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economics-en","kateb-aya-yasser"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/\u0636\u0631\u0627\u064a\u0628-.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17398"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17399,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17398\/revisions\/17399"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17398"},{"taxonomy":"kateb","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kateb?post=17398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}