In 10 days, India will hang up on Chinese mobiles

China-made mobile handsets that have flooded the grey markets and are seen to be a security threat are to be phased out within the next 10 days. 
    The department of telecommunication (DoT) has sent a communication to Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) asking them to block services to handsets that have a 15-digit International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number. While other handsets come with 16-digit IMEIs, only Chinese cellphones have 15-digit numbers. On the computers of the service providers, the Chinese handsets show up an endless list of digits as their IMEI number due to which these handsets can’t be traced using their IMEI numbers. Also, over 1,000 of these handsets share a single IMEI number. This has posed a big problem for the police, who normally track down mobile thieves through the IMEI numbers. 
    Recently, the COAI made a representation to the government explaining the problem after which the DoT asked it to stop mobile services to people having Chinese mobile phone handsets. Some of these customers have already received SMSes from the mobile operators asking them to change the handset, else their phones would be disconnected.