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Bangladesh registering mobile phones with three-month lifeline

| Updated: June 25, 2021 09:38:43


Bangladesh registering mobile phones with three-month lifeline

All the mobile phones in Bangladesh will get automatically registered by Jun 30 as part of a process to block illegal and counterfeit handsets.

“The users won’t need to do anything. There won’t be a problem to use these (phones with no legal issues),” said Brig Gen Shahidul Alam, Director General of regulator BTRC’s spectrum department.

Following a previous plan, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) will begin blocking the illegal phones experimentally on Jul 1, reports bdnews24.com.

It will use the National Equipment Identity Registrar or NEIR to check the customers’ NID number, the IMEI code of the device, and MSISDN number of the SIM card that uniquely identifies a subscription for the blockade.

If a handset is found undocumented after it gets connected to the networks from Jul 1, its owner will be notified and given three months to switch to a legal device. The legal mobiles will get registered automatically.

According to the BTRC, the users will be forced to dump the illegal phones because no SIM card will work on them after the given period of time.

It signed a deal with Synesis IT in December 2020 for the NEIR technology.

WHAT USERS SHOULD DO

Customers will need to check the legal status of a mobile phone before buying it and then preserve the receipt.

To check the legal status of a phone, they will first need to type “KYD<space>15 digit IMEI number” and send the message to 16002.

A reply SMS will confirm the legal status of the handset.

MOBILES FROM ABROAD

Mobile phones bought or got as a gift from abroad will be automatically connected to Bangladesh’s networks.

But the users will have to submit information online within 10 days to register the handsets on the NEIR.

The customers will get a notification seeking registration once a mobile phone brought from foreign countries joins the local networks.

After the registration is complete, the mobile phone will be legal.

Otherwise, the phone will be considered illegal and the users will be notified about the three-month time.

To register online, the users will have to open an account on neir.btrc.gov.bd and choose Special Registration option.

They will need to provide IMEI number, photo or scanned copies of necessary documents, such as visa and receipt.

The customer care centres of the mobile phone operators will also provide the registration services.

A traveller can bring maximum two mobile phones without duty and six more by paying the duty from abroad in line with the baggage rules.

CHECKING LEGAL STATUS OF A PHONE

To check the legal status of a phone, a customer will have to send the IMEI number by dialling *16161# and then selecting the Status Check option.

The phone’s legal status will be confirmed in a reply SMS.

The users can also check the status by using the Citizen Portal on neir.btrc.gov.bd or at the customer care centres of the mobile phone operators.

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