Government launches web portal to block stolen, lost mobile phones

The government has launched a web portal, ‘Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR)’, to facilitate blocking and tracing of stolen/lost mobile phones in Delhi.

At the launch on Wednesday, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister for Communications, Law & Justice and Electronics & Information Technology said that mobile security should be a national priority because the mobile handset has become an important tool for all online activities.

The web portal was first launched in Mumbai.

“While we exploit technology for development, the equally smart criminals induce technology for their own end. Therefore, we need a technology that safeguards our interests,” he said.

The CEIR has been undertaken by the Department of Telecom (DoT) for addressing security, theft and other concerns including reprogramming of mobile handsets.

The launch of the project in Delhi will facilitate – request for blocking of stolen or lost mobile phone by customers; blocking of such mobile phones across mobile networks; sharing of traceability data with the Police; and unblocking of recovered/ found stolen or lost mobile phones. Lt Governor of NCT of Delhi, Anil Baijal addressing the launch said that in the NCR-Delhi itself, mobile theft cases are to the tune of 40,000 cases per year and there should be a mechanism to address this problem.

He requested the Minister to consider the integration of Zonal Integrated Police Network (ZIPNET) with the CEIR for better functioning.

Anshu Prakash, Secretary DoT and Chairman, Digital Communications Commission, said that the tele-density in the country has increased to 242 mobiles for 100 people and the mobile handset became a means to fulfil all day-to-day requirements.

He said International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number being programmable, some miscreants do reprogramme the IMEI number, which results in cloning of IMEI causing multiple devices with same IMEI number. As on date, there are many cases of clones/ duplicated IMEI handsets in the network.