Cell Phones without IMEI number will not work after January 6

Department of telecom (DoT) has decided to block Cell Phones which do not have IMEI number or have a fake IMEI number.

What is IMEI number?

IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) is a unique 15 Digit Code which identifies every handset. When a handset is lost it could be easily located or stopped from working with the help of IMEI number. To get the IMEI number of your Cell phone, just type *#06# or remove the battery to reveal the code underneath.

After the recent terror attacks, DOT has taken serious steps to prevent misuse of cell phones. Sources say that somewhere around 25 million handsets are in use with a fake i.e. with zeroes as IMEI number or without an IMEI number.

All these cell phones mainly come from China and DOT has decided to ban all the 25 Million handsets. This means that from January 6th onwards all the handsets with fake or without an IMEI numbers will stop working.

Further steps will be taken to ban the import of foreign handsets which are sold freely in the market without any regulation or IMEI number.

Update: The Government of India is planning to extend the deadline of banning the cell phones without IMEI number until March 31, 2009. The Telecom Industry has developed new software that will assign IMEI number to Cell Phones with Fake or No IMEI number. This software update will cost Rs.100 per Phone and will assign a new IMEI number to Handsets.