With news coming in that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) intends to announce recommendations on blocking lost and stolen mobiles within a month's time, through IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) number based blocking, operators might have to gear up to upgrade network infrastructure in-order to implement them. The proposal is for a system, under which handsets reported stolen or lost will be blacklisted on operators networks on the basis the IMEI number, and will be unable to make or receive calls, SMS, GPRS etc. In response to a consultation paper from the TRAI, BSNL, Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, Tata Teleservices and Reliance Communications had sent their responses. An overview of what they said: - Cost to Operators & Customers: Airtel estimates the cost of deploying a Central Equipment Identified Register at $4 million, and said that the cost should be borne by the Government or the third party agency deployed by it. All operators agreed that the service should be chargeable for the customer. - Additional load on the network? BSNL, Tata Tele and a few others don't think there will be much load on the network, while Vodafone, Airtel and Idea felt otherwise, saying that they already check for MNP and DNDC (Do not disturb) databases before terminating calls. Additional expenses would be required to set-up processes and systems. - Who maintains the database?/ National or Zonal? All agree that the database should be national as handset trafficking is rampant. While associations like the AUSPI and operators like Vodafone and Reliance feel that the…
