AT midnight Monday, tens of million of mobile telephone users in India suddenly found their devices cut off. The authorities had demanded the network providers block these cheap phones because they lacked the 15-digit International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number.
Without this code, callers can conceal their identities. Security forces around the world have long known of the problem and it is indeed on very valid security grounds that the Indian authorities have acted. It is known that terrorists have used such cheap phones for anonymous communications.
While the blocking move will have come as a surprise to millions in India, others are surprised that in the wake of the Mumbai atrocity, the authorities have not moved sooner to remove this relatively secure way for terrorists to keep in touch. There are two possible explanations. The first is that the mobile phone, with or without an IMEI number has become an essential part of life for India’s thrusting economy.
Establishing a wireless telephone network is much faster and cheaper than expanding a traditional landline infrastructure. Indeed, as the mobile data speeds increase, it may be that broadband connections, currently the backbone of wired installations, will become redundant. Maybe the Indian telecom authorities should have banned non-IMEI phones from the outset. They could have insisted that mobile providers only permit people with properly registered phones to become subscribers. However, having failed to do this, there was a reluctance to cut off so many millions of people.
The second possibility is that the security forces in India and elsewhere had, in fact, found a way to identify and monitor terrorist traffic on non-IMEI phones and did not, therefore, want to discourage the men of violence from using them to make their plans. Something, however, may have changed. Perhaps the terrorists are scrambling their calls or maybe the sheer volume of traffic to be watched has become impossible.
Whatever the reason, New Delhi has now acted. There are some 488 million mobile phones in India and one estimate is that as many as 30 percent of them do not have an IMEI. India’s Cellular Operators Association has protested that many of these people did not realize this. This smacks, however, of special pleading. The providers were prepared to host these devices with all the associated inherent security risks. They could themselves have warned the public off the cheap Chinese-made phones.
Although immense inconvenience and probably considerable anger will have been felt by millions Tuesday morning when their mobiles were found to be no longer working, it seems that they may not be out of touch for all that long. In an awesome demonstration of India’s new commercial drive, within five hours of the government block, one local manufacturer was offering a range of low-cost IMEI phones, the cheapest of which was on sale for just $32. That will represent a big investment to a minority of the deprived subscribers. Nevertheless in the face of the terror threat, every Indian must acknowledge that with mobiles, national security is more important than their own convenience.
