Dhaka — The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) will start an instinctive drive to stop illegal mobile phones from July 1. However, the illegal handsets that are currently connected will be given the opportunity to register to the BTRC database.
The BTRC Director General Brigadier General Shahidul Alam stated this information on Monday. This will be the first National Equipment Identity Register (NEIR) system to be used in the country to disconnect unregistered and fake mobiles. BTRC has already prepared a database of valid phones.
The installation of NERIR can be completed by June 9. However, the process of identifying illegal mobiles will start on July 1.
The Director-General of BTRC said that about 150 million handsets are being used in Bangladesh at present. Of these, 40 % have entered the market illegally or have been imported.
Customers who have started using unauthorized handsets will be subject to the approval of their NIRIP registration activities before July.
According to BTRC, about 14 crore IMEI numbers have been added to their database so far. There is information of 7 crores 19 lakh mobile phone sets.
When NEIR is launched on July 1, the mobile phones in the hands of the customer will be registered automatically. The NIER registration program will help prevent cloning and theft and revenue collection said, Brigadier Alam.
“Before starting this process, our first goal is to inform people about the issue,” he said.
From the first week of June, we will start campaigning all over Bangladesh starting from remote areas, he mentioned.
