Do you need to pay Egypt’s mobile phone IMEI tax to keep using a local SIM card?

From messages by 3 participants in 1 source · Last activity: 15 days ago

TL;DR

To keep using an Egyptian number on a phone that has been assessed an IMEI tax, the tax must be paid. The charge appears after the phone uses a local SIM, and even a newly purchased handset may show as taxable in an IMEI check.

What the community said

If an IMEI tax has already been assessed, paying it is the only option mentioned for keeping the phone number active. It may be expensive, but no alternative for continued use of the number is given.

15 days ago IMEI tax

You cannot simply pay the tax in advance: it first has to be assessed in the system. The phone must already have been used with a local Egyptian SIM for the charge to appear.

47 days ago local Egyptian SIM

Check the IMEI even for a newly bought phone before travel or soon after inserting a local SIM: a new handset that had not previously been in Egypt was reported as already showing a tax charge.

58 days ago IMEI check