DoT Launches CEIR Portal to Track Lost, Stolen Mobile Phones

Good news! CEIR portal to enable blocking, tracing of stolen or lost mobile phone for Delhi-NCR launched today.

Mobile phone users in Delhi-NCR who lost their mobile phones will now have some relief, as the DoT India (Department of Telecommunications India) launches CIER portal that will allow blocking and tracing of stolen or lost mobile phones.

Central communications Minister Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad today has launched CEIR portal that will enable blocking and tracing of stolen or lost mobile phones in the country.

CEIR Portal- Central Equipment Identity Register

The launch of the CEIR portal, www.ceir.gov.in, for Delhi-NCR subscribers will facilitate requests for blocking of stolen or lost mobile phones by customers, blocking of such mobile phones across various mobile networks, allowing services to other existing customers having mobile phones with the same International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number, sharing of traceability data with police authorities, as well as unblocking of recovered phones.

IMEI number is written on a mobile device box or the bill/invoice. It can also be found on the ‘Know Your Mobile’ app.

The roll-out of the portal in Delhi will facilitate requests for blocking of stolen or lost mobile phones by customers, and sharing of traceable data with police authorities, a statement said.

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This project was launched initially in Mumbai this year around September and today it’s been launched for Delhi-NCR territory. The program will be extended to other cities of India in 2020.

“This system has been developed by CDOT (Centre for Development of Telematics) under Department of Telecom (DoT) and will work in collaboration with Delhi Police and Telecom service providers,” the minister said in a tweet today.

Launching the initiative, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said safety and security of phones are crucial given the country’s technological strides and digital prowess.

“While we make optimum use of technology for development, there are equally smart criminals who abuse technology for their own ends,” Mr. Prasad said.

The latest initiative is expected to benefit 5 crore mobile subscribers in Delhi and adjoining areas.

“Delhi telecom subscribers whose phones get stolen or those who lose their phones can log into the web portal from today… they can go to the portal and register their complaint, along with which they will also have to upload the police complaint and their own ID proof. Based on this, the lost mobile will be blocked. Also if someone uses it, the same can be traced based on the tower signals so the police can also recover the device,” Telecom Secretary Anshu Prakash told reporters.

IMEI

Explaining this further, Mr Prakash said the IMEI is the unique identity of a mobile phone device. IMEI number is programmable and miscreants and criminals reprogramme the 15-digit unique number, which results in the cloning of IMEI. The result is multiple phone devices, at times even hundreds of numbers, with same IMEI number.

If such IMEI is blocked, a large number of mobile phones stand the risk of being blocked (as they are handsets with the same IMEI number) causing inconvenience to genuine customers. The software that has been developed now allows an individual phone to be blocked even if it is on a cloned IMEI number.

Moreover, because of the centralised nature of the register or database, all the operators can block the particular stolen or lost device across the country even though the phone is being serviced by one particular operator.

“This will also reduce the market for stolen phones,” Mr. Prakash added.

Asked about the progress of the initiative in Mumbai, where it had been announced a few months back, Mr. Prakash said as many as 500-600 complaints were logged in Mumbai.

“In 50% of the cases in Mumbai, traceability information has been handed over to the police. Also remember, much depends on whether the phone is being used after it has been stolen… If someone does not use it, it cannot be traced, but it can certainly be blocked. They won’t be able to sell it,” he said.

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