Lost mobile blocking, tracking system to be rolled out pan-India on May 17: How it will help and other details – Times of India

Smartphone users will be able to block and track their lost or stolen mobile phones across India soon with the rollout of a tracking system by the government this week, a senior government official said. The government is set to expand the scope of www.sancharsaathi.gov.in website. Sanchar Saathi portal is a citizen centric initiative of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to empower mobile subscribers and strengthen their security. The website helps people track and find their lost mobile phones. The Centre for Department of Telematics (CDoT) has been running the pilot of the CEIR system in some of the telecom circles, including Delhi, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and North East region. The system is now ready for pan-India deployment and will be launched on May 17 by telecom minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.
Every year, May 17 is celebrated as the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day. “#WorldTelecomDay2023| On the occasion of World Telecom Day i.e. May 17, @DoT_India is launching a citizen centric ‘Sanchar Saathi’ portal. #WTD2023 #SancharSaathi #DIU #TAFCOP #CEIR,” said DoT in a tweet.
“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,” Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Project Board at CDoT Rajkumar Upadhyay told news agency PTI. CDoT reportedly has been able to add features to check the use of cloned mobile phones across all telecom networks.
Stolen/lost mobile phones has also become “national security issue”
The government has made it mandatory to disclose IMEI — a 15-digit unique numeric identifier — of mobile devices before their sale in India. 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.
Telecom companies and CEIR system will have access to the IMEI number of the device and mobile number linked to it. This information is already being used in some states to track lost or stolen mobiles through CEIR.
“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. The CEIR will be able to block any cloned mobile phones on the network with the help of various databases,” Upadhyay said.
How sancharsaathi.gov.in website will help smartphone users
The basic purpose of CEIR is to ease reporting of stolen and lost mobiles and block the use of mobiles all over the country. This will help discourage the theft of mobile phones, enable the tracing of the stolen and lost mobiles to the police, detection of 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.
With the help of this website users can also access their SIM card number and block it if anybody is found using the SIM through the owner’s ID. “Sanchar Saathi empowers citizens by allowing them to know the mobile connections issued in their name, get disconnected the connections not required by them, block/trace lost mobile phones and check genuineness of devices while buying a new/old mobile phone. Sanchar Saathi contains various modules like CEIR, TAFCOP etc,” says the description on the website.
TAFCOP helps a mobile subscriber to check the number of mobile connections taken in his/her name. It also facilitates reporting the mobile connection(s) which are either not required or not taken by the subscriber.