Millions of mobile subscribers owning handsets without unique identity numbers today saw services discontinued by operators after the government banned use of such phones for security reasons.
Leading operators Airtel, Vodafone and others confirmed that they have started disconnecting phones without unique identity numbers.
Vodafone Essar Director T V Ramachandran said, “We are disconnecting all those phones which are through the non-IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) handsets.”
No operator, however, put a number to how many users were disconnected from their respective networks, but sources said it would certainly run into a few millions.
According to estimates, 21 million handsets are in circulation without the 15-digit unique identity number, known as IMEI, which enables the security agencies to trace calls made from or received on such handsets.
A Reliance Communications official said, “When the company introduced its GSM service the non-IMEI phones were already banned. We may not have any connections which are through non-IMEI phones and as per our older license Reliance Telecom connections, such number of connections could be minimal and we will disconnect those phones.”
Despite requests from the GSM mobile operators lobby Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) and the operators themselves, the government refused to relax the November 30 deadline for severing services to the non-IMEI handsets.
While Tata Tele Services Ltd said, “On the GSM side with Tata DoCoMo the handsets that we have launched like the Blackberry Bold, Samsung Android, Accer Windows are high-end phones with requisite IMEI number.
“As for the impact that Tata DocoMo may have seen because of the open-market handset that may have been used, has been negligible to non existence.”
After the government’s directive, COAI was installing identity number on devices without IMEI number.
Handset major Nokia said it is partnering with telecom operators and would offer special schemes to those using handsets without the security number.
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