Russian Customs Says Mobile Handset Imports Soar Year-to-date
MOSCOW, Nov 17 (Prime-Tass) -- Official mobile handset imports to Russia have risen to over 10 million units since the beginning of the year, Director of the Federal Customs Service Alexander Zherikhov said at a conference Thursday.
Zherikhov said that official mobile handset imports to Russia amounted to 2.6 million units in the whole of 2004.
Zherikhov also said that the customs service has made the market more transparent, adding that the average price of a mobile handset at customs clearance rose to U.S. $141 as of now from $35 as of January.
Under estimates of Mobile Research Group, mobile handset sales in Russia amounted to 24 million units and are expected to increase to 31.5 million units this year.
Mobile handsets used to be mostly illegally imported to Russia before August. In August the customs service and the police made a number of raids eliminating several major channels of illegal mobile handset imports to Russia, after which Russian major retailers announced their plans to start importing merchandise directly without the help of fly-by-day companies.
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Posted to the site on 17th November 2005