Government to deploy cutting-edge system to track and block stolen, lost mobile phones
Stolen mobile phones will soon be a thing of the past as the government is gearing up for the pan-India deployment of a cutting-edge tracking system that will not only be able to track but also block mobile that have been reported stolen or lost.
A PTI report quoting a senior official of Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on the condition of anonymity, said that the technology development body Centre for Department of Telematics (CDoT) has been running the pilot of the CEIR system in some telecom circles, including Delhi, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and the North East region, and the system is now ready for pan-India deployment.
The DoT official said that CIER system is scheduled for pan-India launch on May 17, however, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Project Board at CDoT Rajkumar Upadhyay did not confirm the date but acknowledged that the tech is ready for a pan-India launch.
He said the technology will enable people to not only track but also block their stolen or lost mobile phones, adding that new features have been added to the system to check the use of cloned mobile phones across all telecom networks.
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Asked how the system will work, the official said that the CIER system will be able to access the unique digital identifier—IMEI number—of the device and the mobile number linked to it.
He said the system is already in use in some states where its being employed to track stolen and/or lost mobile phone.
The official said that common practice of miscreants changing the IMEI number of a stolen device which prevented tracking and blocking of such devices, will now become redundant as the CEIR will be able to identify, track and then block all cloned mobile phones on any network with the help of various databases.
Rajkumar Upadhyay said the widespread use of CEIR system will discourage the theft of mobile phones as it would be practically useless to try using a stolen device.
The Karnataka Police recently recovered over more than 2,500 lost mobile phones and handed them over to their owners using the CEIR system.
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