DoT to block Non-IMEI number mobile phones by 15th April

The Indian government is planning to impose a penalty on all GSM operators for not disconnecting mobile services on handsets without a 16-digit International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number.The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has shot off a notice to operators warning about the per-day fine. The DoT said that when a penalty is imposed, it will be doubled up every 15 days until 15 April if the operators fail to follow the DoT’s order.The GSM operators have provided connections to about 25 million Chinese handsets that don’t carry the IMEI code. These handsets can be easily tracked. Calls made or received through them can also be intercepted lawfully, showing the provider’s details.The telcos store all their subscribers’ numbers in an Equipment Identity Register (EIR) to avoid unauthorised usage of stolen handsets. Some operators haven’t yet installed EIRs on their network. The DoT has set a deadline of 15 April for operators to install EIRs.The telcos feel that subscribers using cheap Chinese phones won’t be able to afford buy new phones. But to ensure security, the telcos earlier made an alternative proposal, to install software in non-IMEI numbers.The GSM lobby, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), has also demonstrated software to security agencies. But IB has found an error in the software which allows anyone to manipulate the genuine IMEI numbers.There are still a lot of people in the country who are using cellphones without an IMEI number. Connectivity to these cellphones was suposed to be blocked by telecom operators, as instructed by the authorities. DoT has now taken things more seriously by its decision of imposing a fine on a fortnightly basis on operators failing to do their duty.Telcos were trying to find a way out of this, by providing a software which could generate the needed number for them. However, this has been strictly disallowed. Currently the new deadline, before which the operators are supposed to do the needful, has been set to 15th April.None of the operators has reportedly responded to DoT’s notice yet

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Source : Times