Pan-India Launch of CEIR System to Enable Phone Tracking and Blocking: Union Government’s Nationwide Rollout Approaches, Reports PTI.
According to an official from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) who spoke to PTI, the system is prepared for nationwide implementation and is slated to be launched on May 17. Rajkumar Upadhyay, the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Project Board at the Centre for Development of Telematics (CDoT), a technology development organization, affirmed that CEIR is ready for deployment throughout India. However, Chaudhary, while not providing a specific date, mentioned that it will be deployed “within this quarter.”
What is CEIR?
CEIR aims to ease the reporting of stolen and lost mobile phones and block such devices from being used, across the country. Also, citizens can check the status of their request to block a lost/stolen phone, and they can also unblock the device, once it has been found.
How will the system work?
In recent days, CDoT, an autonomous telecom research and development (R&D) center of the DoT, Government of India, has been running a pilot of the CEIR system in telecom circles such as Delhi, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and the North-East. To the system, CDoT added features to check the use of cloned mobile phones, doing so for all telecom operators.
Operators will utilize the list of approved IMEI numbers to verify the presence of any unauthorized device on their network. This requirement has been implemented by the government, making it mandatory to disclose the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) – a unique 15-digit numeric identifier – of mobile phones before their sale.
Ultimately, the CEIR system will assist operators in tracing lost or stolen devices by leveraging the IMEI information provided.
