DOT directive: mobile phone users wake up to dead phones

Meanwhile,T R Dua,director general of the Cellular Operators’ Association of India,complemented the service providers and said,“All the serivce providers have complied to the directive and no cell phone with an invalid IMEI number is functional.”

The city has various centers allotted in areas like Kalyani Nagar,M G Road,Wanowri and Satara where The Mobile Store is officially restoring IMEI numbers. While customers thronged these centers,slow server and power cut made the process really slow. Sagar Chougule,an Airtel subscriber said,“I got a message saying that my IMEI number is invalid. It also gave me details of where to get it restored. But the process is really tardy. I have been going to the M G Road centre,but I haven’t been able to get it done even though I have been standing here since hours.”

The Department of Telecommunications had first directed the cellular operators to bar these handsets by June 30 but due to pressure extended the deadline to November 30.

Work had also begun by the telecom companies who had identified such customers and sent out SMSes or calls. The customers were also advised to visit designated outlets to get the number embedded on their phones.

Rajat Mukherjee,head,corporate communication,Idea Cellular Ltd. said,“We had started informing our customers since last 10-15 days and had also taken out industry initiatives so as to let our subscribers know about it.”

Though the exact number of users affected weren’t known,the subscribers strictly chose to follow the directive. “While it’s too early for us to comment as to how many users were affected,we have complied with DOT’s directive,” Mukherjee added.