BTRC to disconnect illegal mobile handsets from network

Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission or BTRC is going to disconnect the mobile handsets with cloned IMEI or those imported illegally since Aug 1 from the network.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 1 March 2020, 04:37 PM
Updated : 1 March 2020, 06:53 PM

The regulator is ‘shortly’ going to introduce a National Equipment Identity Register to disconnect the illegal handsets. It issued a tender for the purchase of equipment and installation of the register on Feb 19.

It asked all to buy mobile phones carefully in a notice on Saturday.

নকল মোবাইল সেট বৈধের সুযোগ

The regulator had asked the customers in July last year to check the IMEI number while buying a handset and preserve the purchase receipt.

In Saturday’s notice, it noted that anyone can check whether the information on their handsets are on the NOC Automation and IMEI Database or NAID.

A customer needs to type “KYD<space>the 15-digit IMEI number” and send SMS to 16002.

The BTRC will let the users know about the status of their handsets in a return SMS.

The IEMI number cane be received from the printed sticker on the box or packet of a mobile set or by dialling *#06#.

Once the process to disconnect the illegal sets begins, only a specific SIM card can be used in such handsets for a certain period, the BTRC said.

No SIM card will work on the sets after the period and the customer will be compelled to stop using a cloned or illegally imported handset.

The BTRC has taken the initiative to prevent the import of illegal handsets, theft, health hazards and loss of revenue, according to the notice.

Though there is no statistics from the government on illegal handsets in Bangladesh, the businesses put the number at no fewer than 30 million.

Those bringing in mobile phone handsets from abroad can legalise them by showing the purchase receipt or other necessary papers, BTRC Senior Assistant Director Zakir Hossain Khan told bdnews24.com.