DoT and GSM Association Scheduled to Meet Next Week Over IMEI and SIM Cloning Issue

The Department of Telecom (DoT) is going to meet GSM Association to discuss the issue of mobile cloning next week. The report comes from an anonymous source who made a comment saying to Press Trust of India (PTI) as “A meeting with GSMA is scheduled for April 17 to discuss various issues. The DoT will take up mobile phone cloning issues with them.” According to the report, the meeting which is going to be held on April 17 will be a follow up to the statements which Telecom minister Manoj Sinha made during his time at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain this year. The issues that the minister raised involved the cloning of unique identity numbers of mobile phones, IMEI and even SIMs.

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The main centre of discussion with the GSMA will be the cloning of the 15-digit IMEI number which the mobile phone user is required to quote in case of losing the handset. This number is allocated to devices by the GSMA or the organisations authorised by it. Speaking about the SIM cloning issue besides the IMEI cloning, the anonymous source said “but it is not the only body that can help in resolving fake SIMs. The issue of fake SIMs will be taken up with other bodies separately.”

To counter the numerous problems which the department is facing regarding the cloning of IMEI and SIMs, the government is developing a system through C-DoT which will be Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR). This new facility will help the government in easily blocking all services on the phone even if the SIM card is removed and the IMEI is also changed. Besides assisting in stopping services after the handset is lost, this CEIR system will increase protection of consumer interest and will also ease legal interception by law enforcement authorities.