New Delhi, Nov. 2: Telecom regulator Trai on Tuesday sought views from service providers and other stakeholders on ways to block lost or stolen mobile phones, to curtail the illegal handset market, discourage handset theft and protect consumer interest.
Terming mobile phone theft as a concern to the consumers, Trai said many valuable personal data are stored in mobile handsets.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has released a consultation paper on issues relating to blocking of IMEI for lost/stolen mobile handsets.
Presently, there is no mechanism in place to block a mobile phone in case it is lost. The telecom service providers can only block the SIM card, in case a lost or theft complaint is registered by the user with them.
But, at present, the operators do not block the mobile phone. As on August 2010, there were 670.61 million wireless connections in the country and around 18 to 19 million connections are being added every month. The exact number of mobile phones lost or missing every month are not available, but according to industry experts the number is alarming.