Mobile Phone Stolen Or Lost? Govt Set To Roll Out Tracking System Across India On May 17

The government is all set to roll out a pan India system to track and block lost and stolen mobile phones on May 17.

After the system’s launch, the CEIR will be able to block and restrict any cloned or stolen mobile phones on the network with the help of various databases across India.

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The government is all set to roll out a pan India system to track and block lost and stolen mobile phones soon. News agency PTI reported a senior government official as informing that people will be able to block and track their lost or stolen mobile phones across India after the rollout of the system on May 17. The official, familiar with the development, said the Technology development body Centre for Department of Telematics (CDoT) has already been running the pilot of the CEIR system in some of the telecom circles. These cities include Delhi, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and the North East region.

The official also said, as quoted by PTI, "CEIR system is scheduled for pan-India launch on May 17.”

The Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Project Board at CDoT, Rajkumar Upadhyay, has not confirmed the date of the launch so far. However, he said that the technology is ready to be deployed across India.

Upadhyay said, as quoted by PTI, "The system is ready and now it will be deployed across India in this quarter. This will enable people to block and track their lost mobile phones.”

As of now, CDoT has added features to check the use of cloned mobile phones across all telecom networks all over the country.

This comes as the government has made it mandatory to disclose the IMEI (a 15-digit unique numeric identifier) of mobile devices before their sale in India.

After the launch of the system, the mobile networks will have access to the list of approved IMEI numbers which will check the entry of any unauthorised mobile phones on their network, reported PTI.

Telecom operators and the CEIR system will also have visibility into the IMEI number of the device and the mobile number linked to it.

The information will be used in some states to track and block lost or stolen mobiles of people through CEIR.

Commenting on it, Upadhyay said, "One of the common practices is that miscreants change IMEI number of stolen mobile phones which prevents tracking and blocking of such handsets. It was a national security issue.”

He further said, after the system’s launch, “The CEIR will be able to block any cloned mobile phones on the network with the help of various databases," as reported by PTI.

The main objective of CEIR is to ease reporting of stolen and lost mobiles and block the use of mobiles all over the country. 

Doing this will discourage the theft of mobile phones. It will also enable and help police in tracing stolen and lost mobiles.

With this, the police can also, detect cloned or counterfeit mobiles, restrict the use of such cloned mobiles, as well as protect the interest of the consumers by making them aware of the information related to fake and cloned mobile phones.

After the new system is put in place, it will be difficult to use stolen mobile phones.

"The system has an in-built mechanism which will also check the smuggling of phones and help the government from revenue loss to the exchequer as well," said Upadhyay, as per PTI. 

In the recent past, Karnataka Police recovered and handed over more than 2,500 lost mobile phones to their owners with the help of the CEIR system.