Have you got the right number?

Government has banned use of mobile phones without unique identity number but consumers are not aware

If you are using an unbranded China-made mobile phone, check if it has a unique International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number. If not, you could get into trouble as the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) has banned the use of cellphones without IMEI numbers from April 1 because of security reasons. And service providers are planning to block call facilities to such phones.

However, consumers are still in the dark.u00a0 Savita Khan, a BPO employee, has been using a China-made mobile phone for the last seven months and was not aware that she had to stop using it. "I appreciate that the government is serious about security but there should be an alternate arrangement. I can not throw the mobile phone worth Rs 8,000. I bought it after consulting many satisfied users of Chinese phones," said Khan.

Avinash Kumar Singh, a marketing executive, said, "I have recently bought this China-made phone and I don't care whether it has an IMEI number. I am not aware that the government is planning to scrap such phones. I don't think it will be possible to do so."

The DoT order came after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks when the Intelligence Bureau (IB) had objected to the sale and use of cellphones with fake IMEI numbers that made it almost impossible for investigators to track down suspicious calls made by terrorists.

According to unconfirmed reports, there are about 25 million unbranded Chinese handsets without valid IMEI numbers being used in India.u00a0 Telecom service providers, however, claimed that they have started sending SMSes to users and will soon block services to numbers that are being used from handsets with fake or no IMEI number.

Meanwhile, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) had suggested a method to "legalise" these handsets by issuing fresh IMEI numbers to them, so that consumers could continue using them. A software had also been developed to issue new IMEI numbers. But the programme is running late. "The software is ready but it would take a week more to hit the market," said a senior official of COAI, wishing anonymity.