Almaty ecologist Pavel Alexandrov has spoken about the introduction of a mandatory fee for registering IMEI numbers of mobile phones imported from abroad.
On his Facebook page, he writes that phones must be verified through the "Information System for Monitoring and Identification of Subscriber Devices". It is noted that the money from device registration will not go to the budget, but to the account of a private company.
Meanwhile, Azh.kz clarifies that individuals can register up to two smartphones and two tablets per month for free, while legal entities are required to pay 1 MCI (3,932 tenge) for each device.
It is noted that the import of smartphones into Kazakhstan amounts to approximately 4 million devices per year. This means potential revenue from the new fees could be up to 16 billion tenge annually.
It has become known that the system operator is ATS Mediafon KZ LLP. The company was registered in April 2023 under the name "ATS Advanced Telecom Solutions", changing its name in March 2025.
The founder and director is listed as Vladislav Safarov, who also manages AVS ALLIANCE LLP (wholesale trade) and KAZAKHSTAN HERITAGE LLP (installation and configuration of hardware and software systems).
According to available information, since its registration, the company has not paid a single tax and has not conducted any activity previously.
For context, we previously wrote about how Kazakhstan legalised the Unified Accounting System (UAS) for bookmaking offices under the guise of combating gambling addiction.
MP Yelnur Beisenbayev initially called such structures "parasitic intermediaries", but later voted for the system himself, which brings the private operator up to 15 billion tenge annually.
The IMEI registration scheme looks like a new attempt to create a private intermediary between state functions and budget revenues.