Check in time
As the directive of the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) to bar the services to unbranded mobile phone handsets without IMEI number comes into effect by December 1, the owners of the unbranded or Chinese handsets will be required to either do away with their handsets or avail one-time amnesty to get IMEI number that will help turn their illegal handsets into legal ones. Supporting DoT’s directive, the Indian Cellular Association (ICA) this Friday appealed to both consumers and traders to desist from purchasing in the transaction or sale of such devices. As per the directive, an owner of a handset without an IMEI number or with a fake one can avail of one amnesty chance to seek IMEI number. IMEI is a fifteen digit number which gives a unique identity to the handset. Pankaj Mohindroo, national president of ICA informed, “India’s telecom and mobility growth story has attracted world attention. This scorching growth pace has seen the market being flooded with handsets that either do not have IMEI number of have fake ones or are cloned.” ICA has urged mobile phone users to go for an IMEI number check by SMSing to 57886.

Reason to cheer
For all those who fret over roaming charges, here’s a reason to cheer. In a bid to drive more usage among customers across the country while their phone is on roaming, Airtel has launched a ‘Turbo’ plan that aims to reduce roaming rates by nearly 60 per cent. Customers who enroll in the plan will be charged 60 paisa per minute for all incoming calls while on roaming. Launching the new plan, Sanjeev Kumar Saxena, CEO, Bharti Airtel remarked, “The launch of the Turbo plan is especially good news for the Airtel customers of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh as there is a lot of traveling done between the three states.”