19 Dec, 2008, 1518 hrs IST,Rashmi Pratap, ET Bureau
MUMBAI: Come January 6 and some 25 million mobile phones could get
disconnected. Concerned over terrorist attacks in various parts of the
country, the department of telecom (DoT) has asked telecom service
providers to disconnect handsets which do not have an international
mobile equipment identity (IMEI) number.
IMEI number is a unique 15-digit code that can identify a handset to a
GSM network. It prevents stolen handsets from being used and allows
lawful interception. Every time a call is made, the IMEI number shows on
the operators's network. DoT has asked service providers to equip
networks with Equipment Identity Register (EIR) to check if calls are
being made from genuine handsets.
“Wherever such facility is not available in switches, necessary hardware
and software should be put in place within a period of three months of
the date of issue of this letter and compliance reported,” it added in a
letter to operators on October 6.
According to the Indian Cellular Association (ICA), the use of illegal
IMEI handsets is possible because there is no validation of IMEI in
mobiles entering India through the sea or air route. Also, there is no
central mechanism to prohibit stolen phones from being used. Bulk of the
grey market phones are without genuine IMEI numbers. ICA estimates
around 25 million such handsets are running on networks in the country.
However, some operators ET spoke to express their inability in meeting
the DoT deadline due to technical reasons.
“What the DoT is trying to do is to block all calls with zeroes as IMEI
numbers or from blacklisted numbers. That adds extra load on networks.
There are so many combinations of non-genuine IMEI numbers that it is
extremely difficult to block them. Network upgradation is required to
block all such calls and not all of our multiple equipment vendors are
equipped to do it,” a senior official at a telco told ET.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/25_million_mobiles_to_be_disconnected_Jan_next_year/rssarticleshow/3860616.cms
Regards
Syed Imran
+9 1 9 9 4 5 4 7 9 9 7 4
To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with
the subject unsubscribe.
To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please
visit the list home page at
http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
