ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has blocked around 0.782 million International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) since start of this service seven years before to curb mobile phone theft in the country.
Of the total blocked, around 44,897 IMEIs were involved in Grey trafficking cases. During the period, the Authority also unblocked around 41,785 IMEI numbers.
Latest figures of PTA on Tuesday revealed that 96,258 IMEIs were blocked during 2006-07, 1,57,826 IMEIs blocked in 2007-08,1,27,568 IMEIs blocked in 2008-09, 1,30,298 blocked in 2009-10,1,11,545 IMEIs blocked in 2010-11, 84,849 IMEIs blocked in 2011-12 and the number of blocked IMEIs reached 73,474 in 2012-13.
During 2012-13, a total of 73,474 IMEIs were blocked and 3,334 were unblocked while 5,057 IMEIs involved in Grey traffic were also blocked as per directives of the regulator.
The regulator launched IMEI blocking facility in 2006 to prevent the stolen, lost and snatched mobile phones from being used by culprits on any cellular network in Pakistan.
Since the launch of this faculty on September 30, 2006,a significant drop in mobile related crimes has been witnessed. However, if the blocked handset is found by the consumer, he/she can also get it unblocked after following the SOPs.
The International Mobile Equipment Identity or IMEI is a number, usually unique, to identify GSM, WCDMA, and iDEN mobile phones, as well as some satellite phones.
It can be checked on the phone by entering *#06# into the keypad on most phones.
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