Pakistan Planning to Block Stolen Mobile Phones

Chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Maj. Gen Shahzada Alam Malik has said that a technical system will soon be in place to curb mobile phone snatching with the help of all cellular mobile operators, City Police Liaison Committee (CPLC), federal and provincial police departments and other government functionaries.

Chairman PTA said that the mobile operators have already been directed to install Equipment Identity Register (EIR) system which enables a stolen or snatched cell phone to be blocked through its International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI).

He said that PTA has developed a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) which will be handed over to mobile phone operators to streamline the reporting of stolen cell phones. He said that PTA will launch a comprehensive awareness campaign to educate the telecom users about the reporting of snatched or stolen mobile phone. The reporting procedure will be kept simple and PTA may establish a help line for this purpose, he added.

The Chairman said that CPLC and Police will be the key players. PTA will ensure that all mobile companies update their database and that data will be shared by all provinces. He said that PTA is striving hard to facilitate the present telecom sector boom in every possible manner.

Joint Secretary, Interior Ministry emphasized on PTA for the smooth implementation of this system. CPLC Chief gave a detailed presentation on mobile snatching and said that in Karachi alone 120 such cases are being reported daily on average whereas CPLC was able to recover 1,100 phones so far. He said that a task force comprising of City Police, CPLC and members of Electronic Association has been established to deal with this problem."

Posted to the site on 21st August 2006