Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has extended the mobile phone verification deadline to January 15th, 2019. Moreover, every non-compliant device in operation after the due date will remain operational and will be tied to these numbers till the useful life of the device.
According to sources, the decision to was taken after Federal government asked PTA to extend the deadline of registering the mobile devices. Consequently, during a PTA meeting on January 3rd, 2019, it was decided that the earlier deadline would no longer be applicable.
In line with the Telecommunication Policy 2015, issued by Ministry of Information Technology & Telecom, the PTA developed a Device Identification Registration & Blocking System (DIRBS), with the aim to curtail the counterfeit mobile phone usage, discourage cell phones theft and facilitate general public by protecting consumer interest.
The system was established to ensure the use of legal mobile phones on Pakistani networks and improve the quality of mobile service to consumers.
Before, PTA set the last date for registration of mobile phones using this system on 1st December. You were supposed to get your device registered until then and as per the instructions, starting December 31st, the authority had started blocking few of the unauthorized and unregistered mobile phones. However, PTA has now delayed that to 15th January now.
To check the status of your device, you can download DIRBS Android mobile application. The users can also send their 15-digit IMEI numbers via SMS to 8484 to check the status of your device.
For further details: visit the PTA website (https://www.pta.gov.pk/en).
