The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) announced on Friday that the Device Identification, Registration and Blocking System (DIRBS) would become functional on October 20 after which all unregistered mobile phones would become unusable. The DIRBS is an indigenous solution aimed to curb illegal imports, facilitate legitimate device importers and mobile users, and improve overall security situation in the country. According to the PTA, a consumer should text the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number printed on the box of a new handset to 8484 and he or she should only pay for the handset after (s)he receives reply that the set is compliant with the regulatory standards. Any mobile device reflecting non-compliant status after October 20 will be blocked as per PTA/DIRBS regulations. Any mobile device obtained/purchased/imported after 20th October must obtain PTA Certificate of Compliance (COC) to technical standards. In order to create public awareness, PTA is sending informatory SMS to all mobile subscribers to know the status of their mobile devices in use. Telecom consumers can also verify the status of mobile device’s IMEI(s) by downloading DIRBS android mobile application from Google Play Store. There are 4 categories of responses that can be received by a subscriber inquiring about status of its IMEI(s) as explained below: Compliant Devices are PTA type approved and legally imported in Pakistan. Blocked devices indicate that the IMEI is blocked as this IMEI has been reported stolen earlier. Valid Devices are such devices where the IMEI of mobile device is valid (GSMA approved), however it is not PTA compliant/approved. To facilitate such users, PTA will auto register all such IMEIs which are observed on mobile network before 20th October 2018 and their status will be compliant after-this-date. For auto registration, the users are advised to do any revenue generating activity i.e. make any call, send a SMS or use mobile internet before 20th October. Non-Compliant devices are such devices where IMEI is either not allocated by GSMA or it is duplicated. To facilitate such users, PTA will auto pair all such IMEIs which are observed on mobile network with specific SIMs before 20th October. After this date, those users will be able to use these IMEIs with paired-SIMs-only. In order to auto pair all the IMEIs related to this mobile device, users are advised to do any revenue generating activity from their SIM(s), i.e. make any call, send a SMS or use mobile internet from their SIM(s) before October 20. Published in Daily Times, October 14th 2018.