About 25 million handsets could be disconnected by telecom operators from January sixth onwards as the department of telecom (DoT) ordered them to cut off cell phones without an international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) number.

The move is likely to deter terrorist outfits to make use of mobile phone for their immoral acts, by assuring that no calls made are unidentifiable.

IMEI, an exclusive 15 digit code identifying a cell phone, prevents the use of stolen phones for making calls and therefore permits lawful interception of all calls.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India stressed the need to establish the Universal Services Obligation fund administrator for providing the telecom services to the rural areas of the country. The administrator should be an independent authority and modeled like the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). USO fund is involved in national rural infrastructure and is currently administrated by the Department Of Telecommunication.

In two separate attacks, Naxalite guerillas destroyed a tower of Reliance Communications (R-Com) and a telecom exchange of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) in the Kanker district of Chattisgarh.

The incident took place on Saturday night but the officials could get the information only yesterday night, as the whole communication network crocked up in the region, after the attack.

Government is unlikely to impose administrative charges on the successful bidder of 3G spectrum. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has earlier proposed to levy administrative tax of 2% of the highest bid amount as fees to use 3G frequencies. 3G spectrum auction process is scheduled to start on January 16. However, the Department of Telecommunication said that the proposed administrative charges would reduce the government's revenue by about Rs 5,000 crore. The regulator would discuss the stand taken by department of telecommunication in its next meeting.

The department of telecommunications (DoT) has said that foreign telecom firms can participate in the bidding process of third generation (3G) phone services without a local partner. The foreign telecom firms should follow the laws which permit a maximum of 74% ownership in the country's phone service firms by a foreign telecom firm. The firms must acquire a universal access service (UAS) license to start services in the Indian region.  

State-run telecom giant, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) would be the first telecom company to launch 3G services in India. Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh is expected to launch the third generation technology during the Indian Telecom Summit in New Delhi on Thursday. MTNL would initially provide free of cost services to high spending customers and soon extend to the general mobile users.