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Cloned mobiles to be banned
By siliconindia
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Monday, 21 September 2009, 22:27 IST |
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Bangalore: The Indian Cellular Association (ICA), a body which represents mobile handset manufacturers including Nokia, Samsung and LG, has asked the government to put a ban on such mobile phones which have counterfeit or cloned International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number, reports the Business Line.
ICA said that putting a ban on handsets without the unique identity number will have a partial effect in cracking down on illegal handsets, as there are many devices available in the market with fake IMEI.
If the government goes by ICA's say, around 20-25 million mobile users could face disconnection in the country.
"The order to ban handsets without IMEI is seriously flawed because it did not cover a large number of counterfeit IMEI numbers, which is a significant practice in the grey markets where genuine number is copied on many illegal handsets," said Pankaj Mohindroo, President, ICA.
"The cloning of handsets was rampant and such handsets are easily identifiable by the operators. The operators' system provides information on the IMEI number which appears on their network. Because of the difference in specifications, the cloning is easily identifiable," said Mohindroo.
ICA has told the government that it is in the interest of national security that such handsets should be banned. "We understand that this could be stupendous exercise and could be very unpopular with citizens who have inadvertently acquired these handsets," he said.
IMEI is a unique 15 digit code that identifies a mobile. It prevents the use of stolen handsets for making calls and allows security agencies to track down a specific user. The matter of concern for the security agencies are those handsets which are sold in the grey market and do not have the IMEI.
On September 3, the government banned all handsets without this number with effect from December 1. There are around 25 million handsets being used in the market, which do not have this identity number.
The subscribers can either choose to get disconnected or can go to an operator's outlet to get the IMEI number. If the handset is found to have a fake IMEI, the user will have to throw it away.
More than 100 million handsets are sold every year in India of which about 10 percent is estimated to be sold through the illegal channels.