Venezuela to block stolen mobile phones

Venezuelan telecommunications regulator Conatel has decided that mobile phone operators on the local market will have to block stolen or lost mobile phones, and create a common database to ensure that the devices are not activated in other networks, EFE reports. Mobile phone operators have 90 days to implement an automatic IMEI capture system for all their customers, so that once subscribers reports the theft or loss of their handsets the device may immediately be blocked. According to Ricardo Sanchez, member of the special parliamentary committee on mobile phone theft, in Venezuela, around 3 mobile phones are stolen every minute, which brings the number of stolen mobile phones at 110,000 per month. Over the past three years, around 2.5 million handsets have been reported as stolen in Venezuela.