Not exactly this. But, Pakistan had a huge problem of smuggling, where people were getting new/used/stolen phones from other regions through the black market, a

Not exactly this. But, Pakistan had a huge problem of smuggling, where people were getting new/used/stolen phones from other regions through the black market, and obviously not paying any sort of tax on the import and purchase of the phones. Pakistan's solution was to force telecom operators to stop providing service to any phones which were not registered with the government. The phone is not disabled, just not provided any service within Pakistan. There is a grace period of three months from the first time a cell phone connects to any tower within Pakistan. This is sufficient for most vacation goers. The whole thing is super obscene, because the amount of duty on the phones is extremely high. I think for flagship phones something like 60-70% of the dollar price.