China Mobile Phone Handsets Without a Valid IMEI Number Will Get Blocked in India from Today

TRAI (Telephone Regulatory Authority of India) has asked all mobile operators to stop providing services to those users who don’t have a handset with valid IMEI number. IMEI stands for International Mobile Equipment Identity and a valid IMEI number is required to identify the user, his location and few other informations. There are a lots of mobile handsets being used in India which are brought from China, popularly known as China mobile handsets, usually don’t have any valid IMEI number and after TRAI’s announcement, all such China handsets will not work from today, December 01, 2009.

It’s expected that more than 25 million mobile phone users won’t receive any signal on their handset from today. All Indian mobile operators will block these mobile phones from 12.00 PM onwards and the phone will receive no network coverage. However, users can still pull out the SIM card and use it with a new mobile handset, with a proper IMEI number.

How to Check your Mobile IMEI Number

Type *#06# on your mobile handset and it will display a 15 digit number. That’s your mobile IMEI number. Now follow the process to know the genuineness of your mobile phone IMEI number.

If you were using a mobile phone without IMEI number, then you need to buy a new mobile phone. TRAI, COAI (Cellular Operators Association of India) and MSAI (Mobile Standard Alliance of India) has teamed up together to open 1600 outlets where users can get a new valid IMEI number implemented on their handsets. These outlets can provide a valid IMEI number to your mobile handset and then the phone will be compatible with all mobile operators.

“We are activating all the 1,600-outlets right away so that consumers can start implanting the IMEI numbers. However, we feel that the November 30 deadline will be tough to meet. We will ask the Government for more time.”, quoted by Mr T.V. Ramachandran, Director-General, COAI.

“The ban on new handsets without IMEI is in the right direction but more needs to be done to weed out grey market phones”, said a handset maker.

Since a lots of people might get affected by this step, Indian Government has started GII program to get a new IMEI number on blocked phones.