PTA blames mobile phone companies for massive IMEI theft

ISLAMABAD (Zubair Kasuri): The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has blamed the mobile phone manufacturing companies following reports of millions of mobile phone International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers being stolen.

A day earlier, Daily Ausaf published a report, citing sources, stating that technical flaws in the PTA’s Device Identification, Registration, and Blocking System (DIRBS) have allowed over one million IMEIs of low-cost feature phones, priced around Rs2,000, to be used on smuggled high-end mobile phones including iPhones and Samsung.

The Mobile Phone Manufacturing Association has submitted a letter to the PTA highlighting the severe deficiencies in the current IMEI blocking system, which has resulted in the disconnection of mobile phones belonging to tax-payers.

The audio records obtained by Daily Ausaf revealed that the PTA Member (Compliance & Enforcement) Khawar Siddique Khokhar, in an attempt to protect Consultant PTA Talib Dogar, said that PTA officials were not responsible for the IMEI thefts.

During a Zoom audio call with representatives from various mobile phone companies, Member Compliance allegedly directed the mobile phone association to provide technical solutions for addressing the issue of millions of stolen IMEIs being used in other mobile phones.

Sources within the mobile phone companies told Daily Ausaf that Member Technical Compliance Khawar Khokhar is trying to protect his team to conceal the complete failure of DIRBS, which resulted in the loss of billions of rupees in unpaid duties.

The officials said that PTA personnel deliberately failed the blocking system, on which the government spent $24 million.

“Consultants Talib Dogar and Khawar Khokhar have been responsible for the system’s failure for the past nine years,” a representative of a mobile phone company said.

As per details, mobile phone company representatives informed PTA officials regarding the IMEIs of thousands of unsold mobile phones that have also been sold in the market during a recent online meeting.

They provided a detailed situation to the telecom authority officials, which was responded to by expressing the authority’s inability to address the issue.

Despite resolving the issue, the PTA officials asked the mobile phone companies to develop a new system for implementation.

A mobile phone company owner raised concerns regarding the identification of over 180 million active mobile phones in Pakistan and slammed PTA’s technical department for its ineffective response to the situation.