Baku, Azerbaijan, July 17
By Huseyn Veliyev – Trend:
Measures to combat the theft of GSM traffic using SIM-BOX devices will be strengthened, the source in the Azerbaijani telecommunications market told Trend.
For this purpose, such radical measures as disconnecting the devices with cloned IMEI codes from the network, are considered.
“Today, approximately 90 percent of IMEI clones are not phones, but SIM-BOX devices. These devices are capable of changing not only phone numbers, but IMEI codes, which is a very big problem. Some people, using SIM-BOX, convert GSM traffic of mobile operators into internet traffic, thus gaining access to international communications at low prices and causing material damage to local operators,” the source said.
The fight against these things, according to the source, is very important, as they cause serious damage to the positions of communication operators.
“Of course, the situation with SIM-BOX is not as critical as it was before, but nevertheless this problem exists and should be dealt with. And if, tomorrow to radically disconnect cloned IMEI codes from the network, it can affect less than 10 percent of mobile phone owners. And this problem can be solved at the level of mobile operators by binding their IMEI codes to the Sim card used. Complaints from other SIM-BOX owners are unlikely to come, as they use them illegally," the source said.
Nowadays, milder measures are being developed, not to cause inconvenience to users. This can be done by sending SMS notifications that the device is using cloned IMEI code with a suggestion to link the code to the Sim card in use. Accordingly, other devices with cloned IMEI codes will be disconnected from the network.
To reveal the original device, according to the source, is technically possible from the history of its use.