Chandigarh, Nov 20, 2009: Supporting the DoT’s directive to bar services to illegal or unbranded handsets by November 30th 2009, the Indian Cellular Association (ICA), today appealed to both consumers and trade to desist from purchasing and indulging in the transaction of such devices
At a press conference in Chandigarh today, the Indian Cellular Association highlighted the need for continued and vigilant efforts towards curbing the proliferation of unbranded and counterfeit mobile handsets and accessories.
Addressing the media, Mr. Pankaj Mohindroo, National President, Indian Cellular Association, said “India’s telecom and mobility growth story has attracted world attention as it becomes one of the fastest growing mobile markets recording sales of over one crore mobile phones and an average of 10 million connections every month. Given this scorching growth pace, it is equally important to promote responsible growth and address key issues emanating from the proliferation of unbranded/fake/ non IMEI handsets.” It is widely known that unbranded mobile phones, after import, disappear in the parallel grey market without record of movement or billing since there is no after-sale services offered or demanded.
“A thriving unbranded market, accounting for 30% sale in each state, has been a challenge for the industry and the government alike. Telecom is one of the highest growing industries of India and perhaps the poster boy of the Indian reforms story. But, a growing unbranded segment can negate this growth and retard the progressive impact of a thriving telecom industry. Most importantly, the ramifications of a proliferating unbranded segment extend to even more critical areas including national security, in addition to consumers’ welfare and safety. ICA and its members are committed to raise awareness about the issue and completely eliminate this malaise by the DOT deadline of November 30th, 2009,” he added.
A growing unbranded market can have severe repercussions for the country and its people.
· Such unbranded devices, which either possess no IMEI numbers or invalid/cloned IMEI numbers, pose a serious threat to national security as these are untraceable devices.
· In addition, the unbranded handset segment strengthens the growth of the grey market/ channel which adversely impacts organized mobile trade and denies legitimate revenue to the government..
· Further, these pose a significant threat to consumer safety and wellbeing. These unbranded handsets and batteries are manufactured in extremely poor conditions with manual welding, poor slitting machines using non-standard coating material. They also lack safety mechanisms such as Protection Circuit Module (PCM). As a result, they are often of dubious quality and deliver poor performance besides being unsafe for use.
It is estimated that the Department of Telecom (DOT) directive to ban all handsets without legitimate IMEI number with effect from December 01, 2009 will result in disconnection of up to 25 million handsets.
To curb the growing unbranded mobile handset market, the Indian Cellular Association (ICA) has undertaken a massive campaign to sensitize the government and to educate mobile phone retailers and end users. As a part of the campaign, ICA has issued letters to all retailers outlining the legal implications of repairing and selling or dealing in unbranded handsets, along with providing them with an SMS solution* to identify phones containing wrong IMEI numbers. This SMS solution can also be used by consumers to check the genuineness of their mobile phones. The nationwide awareness campaign also includes print and radio advertising on how and why to buy genuine products.
Over the past few years, the government has been consistently fighting to control this industry as calls originating from such mobile phones cannot be tracked by the security agencies and hence are used by miscreants/anti national elements.
ICA has also underlined the need to include cloned IMEI numbers under the ban. “The current DoT directive does not include cloned IMEI handsets under its ambit, despite the fact that it poses a serious threat to national security. There is a significant practice within the grey markets where a genuine IMEI number is copied on a number of illegal handsets. The handsets that have cloned IMEI numbers should also be banned in the interest of national security,” commented Mr. Mohindroo
IMEI
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. However, a majority of handsets sold in the grey market do not come with a genuine IMEI number, which is a matter of concern for security agencies.
Some of the facts which every user of mobile phone should be aware of
ü There is already a ban on the import of mobile phones with wrong IMEI number. Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, has already issued a Notification No.1l2 (RE-2008);200-2009 dated 16th June 2009 to this effect.
ü There is now a clear directive from Government of India directing Operators not to process and reject calls from mobile handsets with IMEI numbers not available in the updated GSMSA database or without IMEI Numbers or all Zeros IMEI numbers from 30.11.2009. The above directive is equally applicable to all post paid and pre paid users of mobile services
ICA urges every mobile phone users to go for IMEI number check of their mobile handsets with an easy SMS solution that is being provided to check the validity of the IMEI number and participate in this nationwide movement. The consumer or anyone can send a SMS to 57886 and verify the same.
*TO CHECK THE IMEI NUMBER
ü The IMEI number will be displayed after you press *# 06 #
ü The genuine IMEI number is a 15 digit number
Whatever is the result of the above, genuineness of the same can be checked by sending an SMS to 57886 with the following steps:
ü Step-l: Open SMS window
ü Step-2: Type (IMEI number displayed above). Eg. IMEI 357719009240555
ü Step-3: Send to 57886
ü Step-4: The SMS reply will provide the brand name and the model number for which this IMEI number was originally allotted.
I think it is a Good step from Dot , now further They should
take some strict action against those who changes IMEI and should ban on equipments used in it like UK Gov.