If you plan to buy a mobile handset, make sure that it has a valid International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number. Otherwise, you’ll face the same predicament that Tarun Kanti Ghosh, a Calcutta-based stock broker, is facing. A few weeks ago, he received an SMS from his mobile service provider, saying that services would soon be discontinued as his handset had an “invalid IMEI number”. Ghosh ignored it thinking that it was a general message but he soon got an automated call warning him of the same thing. He made inquiries and realised that his operator was serious. A government directive had asked operators to stop service to mobile handsets with an invalid or no IMEI number.

IMEI is a 15-digit code that is unique to a handset. Cellular operators can trace a call made or received from any handset because of the IMEI number. Calls to specific mobiles can also be intercepted by law enforcement agencies if they suspect the owner is involved in unlawful activities. But if the suspect uses a mobile without an IMEI number, the calls and the phone are simply untraceable. While investigating terror attacks in several parts of the country, intelligence agencies found that terrorists were carrying phones that did not have an IMEI number. This led to the Union ministry of communications and information technology (IT) to instruct telecom operators to bar services to phones without an IMEI number from June 30, 2009.

The ministry has already banned the import of handsets that do not have a valid IMEI number. Most of these are made in China and are in high demand in the grey market because they have state-of-the-art features but are cheap. These handsets either have an invalid 15-digit code, or do not have one at all. Several thousand handsets could also have the same IMEI number, which again is illegal.

How do you find your mobile’s IMEI number? If you bought it with papers, the box as well as the receipt will bear the 15-digit number. In case you don’t have these close at hand, just dial *#06# and the IMEI will be displayed. You can also check the number plate under the battery. If you’ve bought the mobile from the grey market, sms the IMEI number to 53232 to confirm if it is genuine.

According to estimates, of the 400 million handsets in use in the country, as many as 25 million do not have a valid IMEI number. The government has been wanting telecom operators to bar services to phones without IMEI numbers for sometime but service providers were unwilling to lose so many customers at one go. So they came up with a solution. Last month, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) and Mobile Standards Alliance of India (MSAI) announced a “Genuine IMEI Implant (GII)” programme, through which people can have an unique IMEI number implanted in their handset through a software.

“Phones without IMEI numbers were supposed to go out of service a long time ago, but since it would have affected millions of people, the government extended the deadline. With this programme now in place, neither the government nor the people will have an excuse,” says Ashwani Budhiraja, director general, MSAI, the agency that is authorised by the government to implant genuine IMEI numbers.

MSAI has equipped more than 1,000 dealers across the country with the software to instal IMEI numbers. “It takes 15-30 minutes. A person just has to come to the shop with his handset and some sort of identification,” says Abdul Gahni, proprietor of Agnicom in Chandni Market, Calcutta, who is one of those authorised by the MSAI. Gahni says he is getting around 100 customers a day who want to legalise their handsets. Of course, this has a price — Rs 199, as set by the MSAI. There are more than 30 such centres across West Bengal.

The problem is that not many people are aware of the GII programme. “We have been intimating our customers through text messages and other forms of communication. Unfortunately, many do not understand the problem,” says Rajat Mukherjee, vice-president (corporate affairs), Idea Cellular.

Himadri Mazumdar of Mobile Care in Keshtopur, Calcutta, another dealer authorised to implant IMEI numbers, says that the deadline and its implications haven’t been well publicised by either the government or telecom operators. “Had there been a bigger media campaign, buyers who recently bought Chinese handsets just because they were cheap could have been saved the trouble,” he says.

The department of telecom (DoT), which is monitoring the process, is not too happy with the progress either and has already pulled up the operators. “We recently asked the operators to get their act together and be aggressive in informing customers about the GII programme. I would also request people with spurious handsets to join the mainstream by getting genuine IMEI numbers,” says Alkesh Tyagi, spokesperson for the Union ministry of communications and IT.

However, not every mobile handset imported from China is spurious as many are sold from authorised centres. “There has been a lot of misinformation on Chinese handsets. This has been done by some multinational handset manufacturers,” alleges Amit Nayak, CEO, Geek IT Stores, the largest importer and retailer of Chinese handsets.

But to be on the safe side, it would be better to check whether the IMEI numbers of these phones are genuine by logging on to www.imeidata. com. And even if the IMEI number of your Chinese-made mobile is fake, Nayak believes that there is nothing to fear. Neither the operators nor the government will go for an outright ban of all handsets without IMEI numbers, he feels. “The operators simply cannot switch off services to millions of customers,” he points out.

But telecom operators say that they may be forced to do so. According to a source in COAI, handsets with “nulls and zeros” — that is, those that don’t have any IMEI number or have just zeros — could be the first ones to go out of service on June 30.

So if you bought a China-made handset recently, and it shows only zeros when you dial *#06#, you should get the IMEI number implanted today. For the ministry of telecom has made its position clear. “Starting July 1, we would like to see no service to non-IMEI handsets,” says Tyagi.