www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The Government of India has reportedly banned the import of mobile handsets devoid of the 15 digit IMEI number. The IMEI number is a unique code for every mobile handset which helps security agency to track the handsets. The move has been driven by security concerns and will have a major effect of handsets manufactured locally in China and Taiwan.
At present, there are nearly 25 million mobile handset without IMEI number across the Indian mobile market and remain unaffected by the government’s move.
For the 25 million handset without IMEI number already exiting in the market would have to get a unique number for their handsets before June 30 or otherwise they will have to face disconnection. Mobile Alliance of India with COAI [Cellular Operators Association of India] is to setup 1600 outlets across the country to provide such unique IMEI numbers to mobile phone handsets without it.