By Chris Elliott…….
Further to Trevor Hughes Tips for January 2017 click here which contained an excellent source of news of the authorities’ requirement that all foreign mobile phones used in the TRNC are registered, this article is replicated below together with a letter from Stephen Collard which gives some more useful information and also confirmation of a number of changes made by the authorities.
“Hi Chris,
I went with a friend to try and get his phone registered as it was purchased outside the TRNC.
The directions in your article were OK but if you are going by car the Domino pizza bar this is on the right and the Hangover café on the left. This is if you are coming from the UK High Commission end of the street.
The phone registration office BTHK, is behind the Hangover café and on the second floor and there is no lift and once 
in the office there is a form to fill in which is also in English. When this is completed you join the queue and at the desk they want 13.2TL from you for registration which has to be paid by Credit Card as this office does not take cash and the stamps mentioned in your article are not required.
It is advisable to take a photocopy of your passport but they will scan your passport.
You then get a copy of the form and have to go to the Customs office which is situated behind the registration office. There was a large queue there to pay the tax/duty. However we were advised to go to the customs office in the new harbour “Yeni Liman”, Girne which is on the road leading down from the Pia Bella roundabout to the docks.
This office is on the first floor of the building to the left and opposite the ferry passenger terminal building and the office will charge you an amount depending on the value of the phone and this office will take both cash and credit card.
Once you have the receipt you go to your service provider with all the paperwork and they set up the new IMEI number on their system and then your phone is registered for use in the TRNC.
Best wishes,
Stephen Collard.”
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By Trevor Hughes……
Foreign Mobile Phone Registration
The Information Technology and Communications Council (ITCN) have made it compulsory to register your hand set and sim cards if they have not been purchased in the TRNC. This is an issue related to embargoes.
There is a tax to pay on non-registered phones and it is levied on the value of your phone which can be considerable, for example a iPhone 7 will be as much as 2,400 TL!
The process for registering your phone is as follows:
- Register the phone at the office which is located in Lefkosa.
- Directions: The office you need to go to is called BTHK (Biligi Tekndojileri Ve Haberiesme Kuruma) located in Lefkosa
If you are taking the road over the mountains to the Gonyeli roundabout, go past the State Hospital on your left, over the small island and keep going through the first set of traffic lights, and up to the second set of traffic lights (you turn left if you are applying for a Temporary Residence).
Turn right taking the road towards the British High Commission. Through the next set of traffic lights to the next traffic island. Turn left and follow the road until you see a “Domino” pizza parlour on your right. You will see a sign for BTHK offices and then go around to the rear of Hangover café .
Office opening hours are 0830 – 1400 hours Monday to Friday. You will need to take a 13TL stamp with you. When in their office, you will need to complete the form for registration and hand it over for phone registration. You can of course get one of their forms from Dağlı Sigorta office in Karaoğlanoğlu prior to your registration, so saving time.
Once you have registered your phone, take the receipt to your provider to activate your phone, which will be activated at 1700 hrs that very day.
Editors Note:
Mobile phones brought into the TRNC before April 2016 will have been automatically registered for use in the TRNC and mobile users can check their mobile device status by clicking here and then click on IMEI Sorgulama (translation : IMEI Inspection) then click on Sorgulama Icin Tiklayiniz (translation : Click to Enquire)
A window will appear IMEI Query into which you should enter your device IMEI number and telephone number and click question and your device details will be shown including confirmation of whether your device can be used on all systems.
To establish the registration status of your mobile device press the * # 06 # keys on the device and the IMEI number will be shown.
For more answers to questions regarding the use of foreign mobile devices in the TRNC click here and then translate the page.
Instead of taxing mobile phones if they want to raise money they should fine all the builders who won’t pay their taxes when they sell their houses to unsuspecting purchasers and then expect the purchasers to pay their portion of the related taxes otherwise they won’t release their deeds.
A very profound comment Joolsdarling but this new regulation has come into play because the mobile phone network in the TRNC is not recognised and Embargoed by the EU. I know this for a fact as having bought a Samsung phone in the UK it was found to be region locked (to certain european countries) and will work in the RoC with a RoC chip but not in the TRNC with a TRNC chip until a set procedures to unlock it were followed. Taxation whilst not welcome is a fact of life for any service or facility used.
As for the property issues you mention, there is a case to be made but it is a red herring when comparing it to mobile phone registration and taxation.
Probably typical North Cyprus bureaucratic nonsense. I can not believe that it has anything to do with embargoes; just yet another way of extracting money from foreign nationals, the ones most likely to have ‘imported’ a mobile telephone.
Believe what you like Ray and poo poo the facts! There are lots of Turkish Cypriots with homes and families in the UK and are you going to tell us that they can bring phones from the UK into the TRNC and not register them?
Lets get a grip on reality and state facts and not fiction.
Ok, for ‘foreign nationals’, please read ‘foreign residents’.
Same difference Ray and as we said “There are lots of Turkish Cypriots with homes and families in the UK and are you going to tell us that they can bring phones from the UK into the TRNC and not register them?”
Further to comment about ‘only applying to foreigners’. When we registered a phone back in late November/December there were approximately 70-80 people in the various queues for the various stages of the process and also milling about outside, the only English person in the queue was me and I was registering the phone TC national.
Thank you Ian for you factual comment, sadly some folk comment without facts to back up their claims
Hi – I don’t know if this is relevant to this discussion, but the EU roaming fees have just been scrapped across all service providers.
I thought this would be bad, as Turkey (Turkcell) is not on the list so I asked Three if I could use a phone in Cyprus. “Yes”. I asked what about North Cyprus as it is on a Turkish Network. “Yes”. I pressed further and said you do know it’s on Turkcell’s network. “Yes – North Cyprus is included in the EU free roaming package on all Networks”.
I have this in writing as well.
Interesting…?
Sandy