Increase in mobile phone theft has forced various government authorities and telecom companies around the world to come up with solid and implementable solutions against the acts of crime in an effort to get ahead of the issue. Wireless carriers in Canada and the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) have also been working closely to figure out a solution against this problem, as Canada has seen an increase in mobile theft over time.
As a result of this close association, the CWTA and wireless carriers finally reached an agreed upon conclusion for this problem and announced a new plan in the past week that will help law enforcement agencies control the theft of mobile phones in the country.
According this new plan, authorization of any LTE or GSM mobile phone on any wireless network in Canada will now require confirmation that the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number of the cellular phone has not been registered as stolen or lost on any Canadian network, thereby denying service to such a device. This new plan will help a great deal in effecting the black market for stolen mobile phones because it will decrease the value of smartphones in the eye of thieves as their future usability is severely hampered.
Expressing his views on this new plan, Minister of Industry, Christian Paradis said that, “Our Government has taken concrete actions to build a strong and competitive telecommunications sector and I welcome this step by industry to address the serious problem of cell phone theft. We will continue to work with industry to protect Canadian consumers and deliver more choice through greater competition.”
CEO of CWTA, Bernard Lord said on this occasion that, “After comprehensive study, Canada’s wireless industry is announcing what it believes is the best solution to help keep Canadians safe from cell phone theft. And with US wireless carriers following Canada’s planned implementation by completing similar international database measures by November 2013, customers across North America will benefit from this added level of protection.”
However to make this new plan effective it is necessary that customers register a report of stolen or lost cellular with their service provider immediately so that service to such a device can be denied. Service providers can thereby add the device to their blacklist based on a unique identifier. Moreover, all instances of thefts should also be reported to the law enforcement agencies as well so that they can act in concert with wireless carriers to make stolen phones nothing more than expensive paperweights.
Source: Tech Vibes
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