A Mobile Equipment IDentifier (MEID) is a globally unique 56-bit identification number for a physical piece of mobile station equipment. Equipment identifiers are "burned" into a device and should be resistant to modification. They are used as a means to facilitate mobile equipment identification and tracking. Additionally, MEIDs are coordinated with International Mobile Equipment Identifiers (IMEIs), facilitating global roaming and harmonization between 3G technologies as a universal mobile equipment identifier.
The MEID is a 14-digit hexadecimal value. The MEID is capable of being transmitted over the air upon a request from the network. The MEID is
composed mainly of two basic components, the manufacturer code and the serial number, as follows:
All of these fields are defined as hexadecimal values with the following valid range.
In the case of MEIDs for terminals designed to comply with both 3GPP and 3GPP2 specifications (i.e., multimode terminals), all these fields
are defined as decimal values with the following valid range:
TIA serves as the Global Hexadecimal Administrator (GHA) to assign MEID manufacturer codes. TIA also coordinates with the International Mobile Equipment Identifier (IMEI) Global Decimal Administrator (GDA), the GSM Association, to administer codes for multi-mode equipment. Support in standards is rapidly being developed. The TIA Committee TR-45 ESN/UIM/MEID Ad Hoc, in cooperation with 3GPP2, is actively working with industry to assist a smooth transition from ESN to MEID. The following library of MEID documents is intended to assist the MEID understanding and migration from the finite ESN numbering resource to MEID:
TIA Numbering Administrator Correspondence to Assignees of ESN, MEID and UIM_ID Regarding UIM_ID Proposal Request (October 7, 2009; 2 pages; 57K)
TR-45 Committee Correspondence to 3GPP2 TSG Chairs Regarding UIM_ID Proposal Request (September 2, 2009; 2 pages; 63K)
TR-45 Committee Correspondence to CDG Regarding UIM_ID Proposal Request (September 2, 2009; 2 pages; 68K)
TR-45 Letter to Industry Regarding UIM_ID Assignment Status Advisory (April 24, 2009; 3 pages; 143K)
Letter to CDG Executive Director from TR-45 Chair Regarding Critical Need at CDG CTO Level for 56-bit Mobile Equipment IDentifier (MEID) and Expanded UIM_ID ("E-UIM_ID") Implementation (July 31,2007; 3 pages; 99K)
ESN Reissue/Reclamation December 2003 Letter Sent to Manufacturer's w/ID Codes 129-254 (Baseline Text; 2 pages, 52K)
First Industry Outreach Letter Sent December 18, 2003 & January 7, 2004 (One Sample of 17 letters; 2 pages, 35K)
Follow-Up Outreach Letter Sent to CTIA on March 9, 2004 (3 pages, 39K)
Letter on Assignment of Test Mobile Blocks for MEIDs (October, 2004; 1 page, 26K)
The Global Hexadecimal Administrator (GHA) publishes a quarterly administrator's report, available upon request by materially- and directly-affected parties.
There is a fee for filing MEID application assignments. The fee chart is available here. Applicants are required to request MEID assignments from the GHA by completing and transmitting FORM A (see below). Once the form is received, the GHA will inform the applicant of the required fee. Assignments will NOT be processed until payment has been received.
The UIM_ID is a 32-bit identification number for the Removable User Identity Module card (R-UIM). Each UIM_ID is meant to be unique, i.e., different from any other assigned UIM_ID and Electronic Serial Number (ESN). The UIM_ID shares the same numbering space with the ESN. It is anticipated that the 32-bit numbering space for both the UIM_ID and the ESN will be exhausted completely in the near future.
An Expanded R-UIM identifier (E-UIM_ID) solution is needed to address issues associated with the impending exhaustion of the existing 32-bit UIM_ID/ESN numbering space. The purpose of introducing a new identifier is to define a larger numbering space.
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