Nagpur, a city in central India, has started to cut the network access of some mobile phones without an International Mobile Equipment Identity, and Chinese "shanzhai" mobile phone manufacturers are reportedly those that are most affected.

The word "shanzhai" or "shanzai", literally meaning "remote village" in Cantonese, has become a popular name for Chinese fakes and the slang now refers to anything that steals ideas or styles from already well-known products, personalities or concepts. According to media reports in India, there are currently 25 million mobile phones without IMEIs in India, and most of them are from shanzhai manufacturers in China. The Indian government's move is expected to bring a strong impact to these manufacturers.

An IMEI is a unique 15-digit code that identifies each mobile phone. Each time a call is made, the telecommunications company uses the IMEI to identify the caller via a universal registry of phones. If a phone lacks an IMEI, the telecommunications company can still route the number to the destination, but it does not know which phone is making the call. Chinese-made shanzhai phones lack the all-important IMEI number.

Prior to Nagpur's move, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India announced that it would also start to block mobile phones without IMEIs from December 1, 2009, but it appears total blocking throughout the country is not happening yet.

Telecom operators in India sent short messages to users prior to the December 1 deadline, warning users that they will not be able to make phone calls if they lack a real IMEI. However, an Indian user of a Chinese-made shanzhai mobile phone should be able to resume service when by inserting the SIM card into a mobile phone that has a real IMEI.

While this news in India is bad for grey market Chinese mobile phone manufacturers, this move also brings opportunities to Chinese mobile phone makers like Huawei and ZTE who do produce legitimate phones with real IMEI numbers.

Related Links:

• http://www.miit.gov.cn

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1. By arun kumar – December 3, 2009 at 9:27 pm

   i have a sigmatel s4 phone can this will be block.

2. By M.V.R.Murty – December 6, 2009 at 2:00 pm

   I am using sigmatel /S18 whose imei no is 351833032043142
   its a duyal sim but 2 or 3 day befor i use only one sim
   in second sim cant doing any work its shows invelid sim
   plz tell me what can't i do

3. By Shashikant deo – December 7, 2009 at 5:17 pm

   i am using china mobile, company NKTEL.my mobile is block.my IMEI no is SV78 & 352439600455913. no any sim is working in the set.
   so, request you to please reply me soon.what can i do?

   with regard
   shashikant deo.
   email-deo85shashi@gmail.com
   cont no.9778487829

4. By Vijay Pal Singh – December 9, 2009 at 11:55 pm

   i am using sigmatel /S18 whose imei no is 356888000235430
   its a duyal sim but 2 or 3 day befor i use only one sim
   in second sim cant doing any work its shows invelid sim
   plz tell me what can't i do

5. By shoheb – December 22, 2009 at 7:06 am

   i am using model-k6 & 2 imei no is 355906-27-007165-6 & 355906-27-007166-4 imeisv:78
   its a duyal sim but 20 days one sim
   in second sim cant not work its shows invelid sim
   plz tell me what can't i do plz

6. By Viahal – December 22, 2009 at 9:08 pm

   352180030442135

7. By rupinder singh – January 8, 2010 at 7:11 pm

   dear sir,
   i have the china made mobile and know it is blocked know what can i do

8. By Ajay – February 2, 2010 at 11:44 am

   My china mobile sim2 block what i can do?

9. By pramod – March 10, 2010 at 5:58 pm

   dear sir,
   i have the china made mobile and know it is blocked know what can i do

10. By Somesh3 – March 2, 2011 at 1:47 pm

    I have china made mobile s3 . The mobile not work proporly.plz send me solution.

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