Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnav (right) in the program. (News18)
Three reforms – Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR), Know Your Mobile (KYM) and ASTR – are being carried out in the broad framework of this portal.
Union Minister of Railways, Communications, Electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnav on Tuesday launched the Sanchar Saathi portal focusing on user security in India.
Portals may also appear as an alternative to services provided by Google and Apple for device locating and tracking. While for Android phones, Google offers a ‘Find, lock or erase lost Android device’ option to locate an iOS device, the user needs to check in to iCloud.com/find or find another Apple device. But have to use Find My App. ,
However, answering a question from News18, the minister said that tracking the location of the device and taking action are two different things and the main objective is to deactivate the stolen or lost device so that no one can use it. .
“Only law enforcement authorities can disable the device and it must be done through a legal process. Through three reforms, we have created a proper legal regulatory process by which lost or stolen mobile phones can actually be disabled. Maybe,” the minister said.
During the press conference, Vaishnav mentioned three reforms that are being done in the broad framework of this portal. They are Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR), Know Your Mobile (KYM) and ASTR.
Sanchar Saathi Portal is a citizen-centric project of DoT to empower mobile customers and enhance their security. It empowers people by allowing them to view mobile connections in their name, disconnect those no longer needed, block or trace missing mobile phones, and purchase equipment while buying a new or used mobile phone. Verify authenticity.
While CEIR is the pilot system that the telecom ministry is running in some telecom circles, the portal also includes another module, Telecom Analytics for Fraud Management and Consumer Protection (TAFCOP).
CEIR module helps in recovery of lost or stolen mobile devices. It also allows lost or stolen mobile devices on the networks of all telecom carriers to be blocked from being used in the country. Any attempt to use a prohibited mobile phone gives rise to traceability.
A TAFCOP allows a mobile user to check the number of mobile connections taken in his name. It also makes it easy to report mobile connections that are either unnecessary or not used by the subscriber.
So far more than 4,80,000 mobile phones have been blocked through CEIR and more than 2,40,000 mobiles have been successfully traced. Similarly, through TAFCOP, the Telecom Ministry has received more than 80,000 requests and resolved more than 1,600 requests.
Through the KYM option provided in the portal, a user can search whether someone else has used his/her name to activate a new connection. They only need to provide the number in the portal followed by captcha and OTP.
After this, the person will see all the numbers under the section “Mobile numbers registered in your name” and will be able to verify the numbers themselves.
Among these three reforms, ASTR Telecom is an artificial intelligence and facial recognition-powered solution for SIM subscriber verification. This will help in finding out how many connections the fraudster is using.
“Fraudsters either take a mobile phone connection using someone else’s identity or they use an identity document but put on someone else’s image. To stop such crimes, we have created ASTR,” Vaishnav said.
