New Delhi: The government has asked mobile
operators to comply with national security norms by not
carrying calls from fake mobile equipment identification
numbers (IMEI) embedded handsets latest by November 30.
As cases of false and no IMEI number embeded handsets
pile up, an worried Department of Telecom in a directive has
asked all mobile operators to reject calls coming from those
handsets with IMEI numbers which are not on the database of
the Global Systems for Mobile Communications Association.
The GSMA maintains a worldwide database of genuine IMEI
numbers. This is activated and updated every 15 days in the
Equipment Indentity Register of mobile operators' networks.
A DoT official said the onus is entirely on the operators
to stop such calls from handsets without IMEI or fake IMEI
numbers. For, he said, subscribers may not be aware that they
are using handsets without authentic IMEI or fake numbers.
The DoT has asked the industry to submit their compliance
report by December 15.
Earlier, the government had set June 30, 2009, as the
deadline for the industry to comply with its security
directives regarding use of mobile handsets.
Bureau Report
First Published: Monday, September 14, 2009, 16:10