Illegal mobile phones will no longer be available from next July. These mobile handsets will be disconnected. The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) will start automatic activities to stop illegal mobile phones from July 1.

However, the illegal handsets that are currently connected, will be given the opportunity to register. May 31 BTRC Director General Brigadier General. Shahidul Alam gave this information.

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 from the first day of July.

The Director General of BTRC said that about 150 million handsets are being used in Bangladesh at present. Of these, 40 per cent have entered the market illegally or have been imported. Customers who have started using unauthorized handsets will be subject to approval of their NIR IP registration activities before July.

BTRC has already added about 145 million IMEIs to their database. It contains information of 8 crore 19 lakh mobile phone sets. If NEIR is launched from July 1, the mobile phones in the hands of the customer will be registered automatically. After that, the mobile countries which do not follow the rules will be activated according to the process.

The NIER registration program will help prevent cloning and theft and revenue collection, said Brigadier General Md. Shahidul Alam. "Our first goal before we start this process is to make people aware of the issue," he said. From the first week of June, we will start campaigning all over Bangladesh starting from remote areas. Mobile set users will benefit the most when it is launched. As a result, if the mobile is lost, no one else will be able to use the lost mobile.

The way this new technology will work

The IMEI numbers of the handsets approved by the regulatory body BTRC will be stored. If the SIM card is inserted in the handset, it will signal to the BTRC database.

The SIM card will be activated only after the handset is matched with the IMEI database. If the mobile phone handset is not found in the BTRC database after the active SIM card is entered in the mobile, then the IMEI number of the handset will be kept in the 'white list' for 7 days and the user will be given the time of registration.