Indian googler

November 30, 2009 may be the last day you’d receive a call and from the next day all the calls to your mobile number may be blocked by your Operator. That is if your mobile doesn’t have or have a valid International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number.

The Government of India has issued a strict notice to all mobile Operators in the country to block the services to all those mobiles in the country that doesn’t have a valid IMEI number. Most of those mobiles that doesn’t have an IMEI number are the one’s that are made in China. Some phones that are imported from China pretend to have an IMEI number but that’s only to fool you.

The IMEI numbers or rather Valid IMEI number across the world is collected and stored in a Database by the Global Systems for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA). If your IMEI number is not included in that database, then the services to your mobile may be barred from November 30. But note that the Equipment Identity Register of the Mobile network Operators will be updated once in 15 days.

To check your IMEI number you have to dial *#06# and that will display your unique 15 digit IMEI number.

To know whether your IMEI number is genuine number or not you can SMS (for GSM handsets) as IMEI<Space>15 digits IMEI number and send it to 53232.

For example, type IMEI 976235792100049 and send it to 53232.

As soon as you send the SMS, you should get a reply as ‘Success’, if your IMEI number is Valid, otherwise the reply would be indicated as ‘Invalid IMEI’.

(As the deadline comes closer you may see different mobile operators publishing different way to check your IMEI number validity and giving different numbers instead of 53232.)

In which case you either have to purchase a new mobile phone having a valid IMEI number or approach an Authorized (I stress, only Authorized) Genuine IMEI Implant (GII) centers to install an IMEI number to your mobile phone.

The actual cost for this process should be Rs.199 but it may vary depending on the closeness to deadline.

In Mumbai, you may visit Mobile Junction, near Akash medical, Bazar peth 400702 or Yog Telecom, Shivam Apartment, Urban new Mumbai 400702.

In Pune, you may visit City Mobile, 398, new mangalwar peth, Near Nargat Giri chowk – 411011.

More centers will be announced soon. In India the Cellular Operators Association of India is taking the project of Implanting IMEI numbers through various channels (GII project)