Illegal mobile phones to be blocked automatically from July 1: BTRC

All the illegal, clone, and fake mobile phone handsets will be automatically blocked from networks starting from July 1.

Shyam Sunder Sikder, chairman of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), said this on Thursday during a press conference in the capital.

“The illegal handsets will be blocked from July 1, but we will not disconnect the ones which are in use now,” he said.

“However, all the new mobile phones will have to be registered before reaching the market.”

“BTRC plans to launch National Equipment Identification Registrar (NEIR) on July 1 this year. No illegal handsets will be allowed to be used in the country’s telecom network after that,” the BTRC chairman said.

In December last year, BTRC signed an agreement with local company Synesis IT to identify and disconnect handsets that were brought to the country illegally and also to register the legal ones.

BTRC Director General (Spectrum) Brigadier General Md Shahidul Alam said, “The NEIR process is underway and it will allow the customers to check the legality of their sets, too.”

From January 16, mobile operators will manually inform the subscribers about the sets that have International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI). Also, everyone will have to register their handsets.