Going by a Department of Telecommunications (DoT) directive, as many as 250 lakh mobile subscribers, who use handsets that are without the valid IMEI - International Mobile Equipment Identity - number, face the likelihood of disconnection of services from April 15, the extended deadline after the earlier set December 31, 2008 cut-off date!

In accordance with the DoT instructions, GSM service providers - including Airtel and Vodafone - are all set to deny connectivity to mobile phones which do not have the essential IMEI number, which is 15-digit code appearing on the operator's network when a call is made.

The concern about the non-valid IMEI handsets rose in the wake of the terrorist attacks faced by the country, with the surfacing of the belief that the handsets in question are possibly used by terrorists to escape their identification by mobile monitoring.

According to industry sources, if all service providers abide by the DoT's April 15 deadline, nearly 10 per cent of the total GSM mobile phones used in India - a majority of them China-made - are expected to go out of service.

Though GSM operators have notified subscribers to replace the non-valid IMEI handset or face disconnection, analysts feel that the revenue of telecom firms will be hit, as phones sans IMEI numbers are generally the cut-rate, unbranded models used by low-end subscribers!