BTRC to create register to ensure authentic handsets
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) today floated a tender for purchasing equipment to set up the National Equipment Identity Register (NEIR), a system that will be used to ensure mobile devices' authenticity in the country.
The NEIR is a central system where handsets importers or manufacturers store a phone's IMEI numbers, which is unique.
It can also be used by customers to check a handset's authenticity, said BTRC officials.
This will also enable the regulator to control connectivity with the telecom network and block fake or cloned handsets from the network, officials said.
The telecom regulator asked interested firms to apply by March 31.
Currently there are huge number of fake handsets in the market and that is also a security issue, said an officer of the BTRC's spectrum management wing.
According to importers and manufactures, 3.28 crore handsets were sold in the market last year and about 62 lakh of those were imported bypassing the official channel.
The BTRC in a notice in July last year asked mobile phone users to check the authenticity of their mobile handsets before purchase and warned that the commission would disconnect the fake handsets once the NEIR would come into operation.
BTRC officials said the commission was hoping to run the NEIR by the end of this year.
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