Why in news? The  Sanchar Saathi portal was launched by the Department of Telecom to help People to block ,track their lost or stolen mobile phones and check the genuineness of a used device before buying them across India.

Highlights:

• The Sanchar Saathi facilities have been developed by C-DoT. The technology development arm under the Department of Telecom has been able to add feature to check use of cloned mobile phones across all telecom networks.
• C-DOT has been running the pilot of the technology in some of the telecom circles including Delhi, Maharashtra, Karnataka and North East.
• Recently, Karnataka Police recovered and handed over 2,500 lost mobile phones to their owners using the CEIR system.

The need:

• With 117 crore subscribers, India has emerged as the second largest telecom ecosystem in the world. In addition to communication, mobile phones are being used for banking, entertainment, e-learning, healthcare, availing government services, etc.
• It is therefore crucial that the users are protected from various frauds such as identity theft, forged KYC, theft of mobile devices, banking frauds, etc.
• To protect users, Deptt of Telecom has developed a citizen centric portal named Sanchar Saathi.

The  three reforms being introduced are:

• CEIR (Central Equipment Identity Register) – for blocking stolen/lost mobiles.
• Know your mobile connections – to know mobile connections registered in your name.
• ASTR (Artificial Intelligence and Facial Recognition powered Solution for Telecom SIM Subscriber Verification) – to identify fraudulent subscribers.

Advantages of the portal

• With the new system in place, it will be futile to use stolen mobile phones.
• The system developed under Sanchar Saathi can also help in curbing the smuggling of phones.

Brief on Sanchar Saathi initiative

It allows citizens to:

• Check the connections registered on their names
• Report fraudulent or unrequired connections
• Block the mobile phones which are stolen/lost
• Check IMEI genuineness before buying a mobile phone
• The entire system has been designed in-house by Deptt. of Telecom. It has following modules.

Centralized Equipment Identity Register (CEIR):

• In case any mobile device is stolen or lost, a user can submit the IMEI numbers on the portal.
• Information submitted by user along with a copy of police complaint is then verified.
• The system is integrated with the Telecom Service Providers and Law enforcement Agencies.
• Once the information is verified, the system blocks the stolen mobile phones from being used in Indian networks.
• In case anyone tries to use the stolen device, the system allows Law Enforcement Agencies to trace the device.
• When the stolen device is recovered, the user can unlock the device on the portal.
• The system prevents use of stolen/lost mobiles.
• It also prevents mobile devices with inaccurate or forged IMEIs being used in Indian networks.

Know Your Mobile

It facilitates the citizens to check the genuineness of IMEI of their mobile device.

Telecom Analytics for Fraud Management and Consumer Protection (TAFCOP)

• It facilitates a user to check the number of mobile connections taken in her/him name using paper-based documents.
• User enters her mobile number on the portal and authenticates using OTP.
• The system shows the total connections taken in her name using paper-based documents (such as paper based Aadhar, passport, etc.)
• The system allows users to report fraudulent connections.
• It also allows users to block the connections which are not required.
• Once reported by the users, the system triggers re-verification process, and the connections are terminated.

ASTR (Artificial Intelligence and Facial Recognition powered Solution for Telecom SIM Subscriber Verification)

• Mobile connections obtained using fake/ forged documents are then used for cyber-frauds.
• To curb this menace, Deptt of Telecom has developed AI powered tool – ASTR to identify SIMs issued using fraudulent/forged documents.
• ASTR used various techniques of facial recognition and data analytics.
• In first phase, connections with paper based KYC were analysed.