The Indian Government on Wednesday banned import of all handsets that do not support the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number. The use of mobile phones without proper IMEI numbers is now seen by the Government as a threat to the country's security, as terrorists have been found to use mobile phones extensively. The ban may hit a number of Chinese and Taiwanese manufacturers that were flooding India with cheap handsets via the grey market.
IMEI is a 15-digit code unique to every GSM and WCDMA and iDEN mobile phone, as well as some satellite phones. It is usually found printed inside the battery compartment of the phone. Fake address submission and no IMEI display is becoming a favourite terror tool to perform anti-national and anti-social activities. The IMEI number is used by the GSM network to identify valid devices and therefore can be used to stop a stolen phone from accessing the network.
Market sources say that the country currently has around 250 lakh handsets operating on the mobile networks without the IMEI number. Most of these phones are smuggled from markets like China and are sold at a very low cost.
In the interest of national security, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had earlier asked Indian mobile service providers to disable access to phones without IMEI numbers starting 15 April 2009.
Indian operators had earlier suggested that these handsets can be legalised by assigning them IMEI numbers. This was, however, not approved by the TRAI, citing the possibility of loopholes in the software that assigns the IMEI. But now that the door is finally being shut on illegal Chinese handsets, customer base of mobile operators will surely be affected. Also consumers will now be deprived of good, feature-packed mobile phones available at cheaper rates.
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