IMEI-less Chinese Handsets Won't Die Just Yet

IMEI-less Chinese Handsets Won't Die Just Yet

Techtree News Staff, May 05, 2009 1846 hrs IST

Second life

If you've been worried sick about your Made-in-China mobile phone dying an untimely death due to its IMEI-less stature, you can breathe a sigh of relief.

GSM-industry representative Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has developed a software that will provide a unique IMEI number identity to those handsets that don't have it.

Prior to this development, the government had decided to bar all Chinese handsets that lacked this IMEI number. Read more about it [here].

The Department of Telecom (DoT) has given a go-ahead to the COAI-Mobile Standard Alliance collaboration to carry out a project through which an IMEI number will be added to the handsets through a software.

Own a Chinese phone? Check Your IMEI Now!

To get this project kick-started, there will be around 1,600 retail outlets set up across the country. These will be introduced in a phased manner, finer details of which are currently unavailable.

Ten of such service centers that will offer to add an IMEI numbers to deficient Chinese phones have already commenced in Delhi on Monday.

International Mobile Equipment Identity, or IMEI, is a unique 15-digit code that identifies a mobile. It is unique to each GSM handset and in most countries, a legal prerequisite for handsets to operate.

There are currently over 16-million China-made mobile phones in the country.