Govt to launch tracking system to block lost, stolen phones from May 17

The government is planning to come up with a tracking system that will allow mobile phone users to block and track their lost devices. The rollout is likely to happen this week.

The technology development body Centre for the Department of Telematics (CDoT) is responsible for this task. It has been running the pilot of the Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR) system in various telecom circles which include Delhi, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and the Northeast. The system is now ready and can be used across the country, The Times of India (TOI) quoted a Department of Telematics official.

The CEO and chairman of the project, Rajkumar Upadhyay also confirmed that the technology will be deployed across India this quarter and it will enable people to block and track their lost mobile phones.

Additionally, CDoT has also added features to check the use of cloned mobile phones across all telecom networks. To this end, government directions have mandated the disclosure of the IMEI number of mobile phones, a 15-digit unique numeric identifier before they are sold in the country.

Telecom network providers will have access to the list of approved IMEI numbers. Using this list, they will be able to check the entry of any unauthorised mobile phones on their network.

Department of Telecommunications operates a website which is maintained by CEIR that allows users to go to the website and block a stolen or lost mobile phone.

The CEIR dashboard says that 477,996 mobile phones have been blocked using the portal, while 242,920 devices have been traced. Users can go to the portal and block their lost or stolen devices.