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Work item:
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Q.5057 (ex Q.GIR)
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Subject/title:
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Technical requirement for a global international mobile equipment identity registry
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Status:
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Determined on 2026-03-11 [Issued from previous study period]
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Approval process:
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TAP
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Type of work item:
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Recommendation
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Version:
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New
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Equivalent number:
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-
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Timing:
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2026-Q1 (Medium priority)
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Liaison:
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ITU-T SG2, SG17, ITU-D SG 2 (Q4/2)
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Supporting members:
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C-DOT, India, Ghana, Nigeria, Indonesia, Bhutan, Senegal, Burundi, Benin, South Africa, Central Africa Republic.
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Summary:
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The growing usage of information and communications technology (ICT) equipment in people's daily lives has also brought several unwelcome side effects related to the increase in the sale, circulation and use of counterfeit ICT devices in the market.
As described in Recommendation ITU-T Q.5050 (Framework for solutions to combat counterfeit ICT devices), this has resulted in adverse consequences for multiple stakeholders such as users, network operators, genuine device manufacturers, traders and governments, including decreased security protection and quality of service for users and revenue losses to a range of stakeholders.
Clause 10.1 of ITU-T Q.5050 refers to “Prohibit the use of invalid and non-genuine device identifiers”.
As the issue of international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) re-programming is still a major concern in combating counterfeiting ICT devices, clause 9.3 of ITU-T Q.5050 on reliable unique identifiers indicates that genuine ICT devices are required to have unique and persistent identifiers that "are secure, in the sense that they cannot be changed by unauthorized entities, are unique to each equipment and have been assigned by the authorized assigner". This implies that in order to reduce IMEI re-programming, it is required to identify that the IMEI has been re-programmed.
When an IMEI has been re-programmed, it will be either random i.e. an invalid IMEI, a non-genuine IMEI, a duplicate/already used IMEI or an IMEI which is valid but not manufactured by the original equipment manufacturer (OEM). Invalid format or non-allocated TAC based IMEIs could be detected respectively using the mobile network operator (MNO) equipment identity register (EIR) by comparing with the standard IMEI format defined by 3GPP and matching with type allocation code (TAC) information allocated by the GSM Association (GSMA). Even IMEIs that have been used can be checked by means of the central equipment identity register (CEIR). But finding out if an IMEI has not been manufactured by the OEM can only be done through the IMEI registry. The IMEI registry may either contains the list of IMEIs that have been manufactured by the mobile manufacturers and issued for sale in the market or it will verify whether the IMEI has been actually manufactured by the respective manufacturers or not through real time query to the concerned OEM/ODM. Some countries may already have implemented a national IMEI registry, but the issue persists for mobile devices that are imported from other countries or entered through unauthorised channels. Also the clause 10.2 of ITU-T Q.5050 also refers to the certification of ICT devices to assist all stakeholders enable the verification of the authenticity of the products.
Clause 7.5 of Recommendation ITU-T Q.5052 calls for duplicate IMEI detection across countries. However, this is related to IMEIs that are already in use by subscribers. It does not include IMEIs that have been manufactured but not used in the network.
WTSA Resolution 96 [b-Resolution 96] resolves that ITU-T should "consider solutions to be used to differentiate between authentic/genuine and counterfeit or tampered telecommunication/ICT devices, e.g. establishing a centralized national reference database of authorized equipment.
WTSA Resolution 97 [b-Resolution 97] resolves that "ITU-T should, in collaboration with the relevant standards organizations, develop solutions to address the problem of duplication of unique identifiers".
In the above context, a global IMEI registry will assist to resolve the issues faced by Member States and consumers such as IMEI cloning and duplication due to IMEI re-programming including the use of IMEIs which have not been manufactured for the allocated TAC. Participating countries or device manufacturer themselves may share IMEI range produced in their country to help all other countries identify counterfeit mobile devices.
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Comment:
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-
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Reference(s):
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Historic references:
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Contact(s):
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First registration in the WP:
2023-10-26 16:41:50
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Last update:
2026-03-11 17:03:25
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