Mobile operators told to crack down on illegal phones

Under a Department of Telecommunications directive, Indian mobile service providers are on a mass effort to stamp out cheap Chinese phones that lack a distinctive identity number, or IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity), as the DoT feels they pose a security risk.

The companies have apparently agreed on a 10-day deadline to flush out the illegal phones, which either have no IMEI number or have 15 digit ones. Legal IMEIs are 16 digits long and are unique in nature. This also means that no two cellphones should have the same IMEI. However, two earlier deadlines for the crackdown, 6 January and 31 March, have already passed without much effective action.

This IMEI number helps trace calls and monitor illegal activities carried out from a particular cellphone irrespective of the SIM card being used. In many cases, more than 1,000 Chinese handsets have been known to have shared the same IMEI number, according to reports.

The service providers have started alerting users with such handsets by sending them text messages and even calling them up, and, according to Techtree, Vodafone has confirmed that efforts are currently on to reach as many customers as possible and inform them about the directive and the impending blockage.

However, the DoT-mandated exercise is fraught with difficulty, considering the sheer number of such handsets in circulation. Moreover, the cellphone companies need to import special equipment to track down such phones. Experts feel that it would be far simpler and more effective to ban the import of these phones, rather than imposing post-facto regulations that put an additional burden on the companies.

Around 30 million mobile phones, or about 8 per cent of all mobiles in the country, lack an IMEI number. Some 800,000 Chinese phones enter India every year, according to The Times of India.

Under law, all GSM phones are required to have a unique IMEI number that gets reflected at cell phone towers. These Chinese phones, however, show up as a series of zeroes at cell towers, or by their cloned IMEI number. Either way, they can't be tracked without special equipment.

The CBI first pointed out the risk to the union home ministry which took up the issue with DoT. In turn, DoT has instructed service providers to disconnect all phones without IMEI numbers. The service providers, according to DoT sources, have dragged their feet "despite the obvious security risk to the country". 

There is no doubt that such phones pose a security risk, and they are a favourite tool of terrorists. But these phones are also popular with consumers because of their low cost, often less than half the price of branded phones. That's why service providers are seeking time to inform these users to change their handsets.