As you read this, it is probably a good idea to check if your cellphone is working if it is a handset without the international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) number.

If it is not – and the chances are high – you can draw comfort from over 17 million other cellphone users in India whose handsets do not have the number, unique to each instrument.

A last-minute effort by mobile operators to get a November 30 midnight deadline extended failed, with the government directing them to de-activate all handsets without the number.

A department of telecommunications official told Financial Chronicle late on Monday night that the government was sticking to its decision and all such handsets must be disconnected by midnight.

The IMEI is a 15-digit unique code embedded in each handset by its manufacturer. It identifies each instrument when a call is made with or received by it.

Most of the cheap Chinese handsets sold in the grey market do not have the IMEI number. Many even have a fake number in which all the 15 digits are ‘0’.

T R Dua, director- general of the Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI) said earlier in the evening, “We have sought an extension but not received any communication from DoT. We need more time to get our subscribers with handsets that did not have the number to get it.”

An executive at one operator, who did not want to be named, said his company had already told its customers about the disconnection.

Telecom companies have identified such customers and been sending out SMSs and/or making calls to calls to them. They have been advised to visit designated outlets to get the IMEI number embedded on their phones. It costs just Rs 199 to get the number embedded in a handset. A connection can be restored only after a handset receives the number.

In partnership with its members, COAI, a GSM operators’ lobby, is operating 1,600 outlets across India for the purpose. “The drive is on. About 20 subscribers are turning up everyday to embed the number,” Dua said, describing the response as positive.

But the fact is the operators’ response was too little, too late. Their main effort was to push the deadline as far as they could. Dot had first directed them to bar these handsets by June 30 but came under pressure and extended the deadline till November 30. In September, DoT sent a reminder.

At 20 IMEI hansets embedded a day, it is anybody’s guess when all the over 17 million handsets will get the unique number.