The Indonesian government has shown keen interest in following the Device Identification, Registration and Blocking System (DIRBS) of Pakistan to eliminate illegal cell phones in the country.
Pakistan has assured full cooperation to Indonesia in implementing DIRBS to curb the illegal import of mobile phones.
Pakistan Telecommuni-cation Authority has claimed the successful implementation of DIRBS in the country saying that it resulted in a significant increase in commercial imports of mobile phones.
According to the statistics, commercial import of mobile phones has increased by 110 percent in one year. In the year 2018, around 9,564,424 mobile phones were imported, whereas in 2019, 19,834,465 mobile phones have been imported so far.
Further, a substantial decrease in illegal imports and smuggling of mobile phones has been witnessed. Since the introduction of mobile phone registration, custom duties of more than Rs 1.27 billion have been collected.
According to the reports, Indonesian government is working with relevant stakeholders to fine-tune a draft regulation in order to curb the use of illegal mobile phones. It will become mandatory for the unique 15-digit international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) number to be registered with the authorities. The unique IMEI number is assigned to every mobile phone set. The unregistered phone will not be able to connect any local cellular network. The government is finalizing a regulation to curb the use of illegal mobile phones in Indonesia.
A delegation from Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (KOMINFO), Indonesia, arrived in Pakistan and held in-depth discussion with PTA on DIRBS.
The meeting was chaired by Dr Khawar Siddique Khokhar, Member Compliance & Enforcement, and attended by senior officers of KOMINFO & PTA.
The Indonesian delegation appreciated PTA's efforts in curtailing influx of illegal and non-type approved mobile devices and discouraging mobile phone theft through implementation of the DIRBS.
They showed their interest in deploying a similar model in Indonesia and discussed with PTA the best approaches and processes to deploy such system. The member compliance & enforcement assured the Indonesian delegation of PTA's support and cooperation in this regard.
The PTA's DIRBS initiative was applauded at the recently concluded "ITU-NBTC Asia-Pacific Regulators Roundtable and Training Session" in Bangkok.
International experts speaking at the special session on addressing illegal, counterfeit and stolen devices, emphasized on the country regulators to adopt and implement the necessary policy, regulations, and technical solutions to overcome the menace of counterfeit, illegal and stolen mobile phones.
The ITU experts highlighted how the DIRBS system works and how effectively it is addressing the issue of illegal devices.
The PTA launched DIRBS across Pakistan in order to curb the import and use of illegal devices. The system can identify substandard, fake and illegally imported mobile phones, and can block non-compliant devices on mobile phone networks.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2019