The UzIMEI system increased official phone imports in Uzbekistan by 265 times, Spot.uz reported. The Ministry of Digital Technologies stated this in response to a Senate inquiry, also noting that customs revenue rose 120 times since implementation.
Currently, IMEI registration systems are active in over 50 countries. In Uzbekistan, imports rose 42-fold in 2019 and reached 3.57 million units by 2024. Another 2 million phones were imported in the first half of 2025.
In 2024, the share of official imports rose to 80%. Customs revenue reached 621.2 billion UZS, and 429.4 billion UZS were collected in the first half of 2025 — 1.5 times more than the same period last year.
Registered IMEI codes grew from 1.61 million to 8.44 million in five years. The Interior Ministry is monitoring 47,400 devices, and over 20,000 have been blacklisted for suspected criminal use or theft.
The ministry acknowledged technical issues with UzIMEI registration via its website, the Unified Portal, and the Birda app. Measures are now underway to resolve them and ensure stable operation.
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