Phone-blocking service delayed as firms reluctant to pay maintenance cost
PETALING JAYA: A system to permanently deactivate stolen handphones, set up by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), has been severely underutilised for at least three years.
Despite being introduced in 2014 and maintained at a cost of some RM50mil annually, the system was not popular among telcos initially.
Usage of the Public Cellular Blocking Service or PCBS (https://www.blockmyphone.my/), which is maintained by Nuemera Sdn Bhd, only picked up in April this year after a long standoff with the telcos over charges and other factors, an MCMC official told The Star.
Nuemera, which was commissioned by MCMC to build, operate and manage the system, has been linked to a data breach involving some 43 million mobile phone numbers.
“This included getting an undertaking from the telcos to pay for the cost of maintaining the system,” the official said.
Telcos were initially asked to pay RM1.50 per phone annually to maintain the system, but objected to the rate.
It was subsequently revised to 50 sen per phone in April to expedite the system’s adoption by service providers.
The official said MCMC also made it an offence for telcos that refused to initiate blocking of stolen phones.
Those who fail to comply with the order face a RM300,000 fine or a maximum of three years in jail if found guilty.
The MCMC official said it was possible telcos were concerned that using PCBS could eat into their market share, because even a stolen handset is a billable one – until it is blocked.
There are more than 46 million active handphones in Malaysia and the official said telecommunications industry estimates indicate that some 800,000 mobile phones are stolen annually.
The official said only 30,000 handphones had been blocked since January.
However, the majority of these blocked phones were not stolen but belonged to subscribers who had breached their contracts after obtaining discounted or subsidised units from their respective telco.
PCBS was established following a ministerial direction from the then Energy, Water and Communications Minister, the late Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik, to MCMC in 2007.
The official said MCMC is also drawing up a framework to use and share PCBS with other telcos in the region, through Asean agreements, to block stolen phones regionally.
But this, he said, would only be implemented in stages over the next few years.
Similar systems are used in Britain, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
The main purpose of such systems is to serve as a deterrent to would-be thieves, because any device they steal would quickly be rendered unusable.
The official said all requests to block stolen handphones must go through PCBS, and “a device can be blocked within minutes after getting the notification from the telcos”.
He said that phone owners must first report a theft to their telco to set the barring process in motion.
A stolen phone is blocked using its 15-digit International Mobile Station Equipment Identity (IMEI) code. This is a unique code found in every phone.
The system requires telcos to install an Equipment Identity Register (EIR) on their side, as a database to identify and blacklist the IMEI of a phone that is reported stolen.
EIRs are also linked to the Malaysian Central Equipment Identity Register (MCEIR) to which the IMEI codes are forwarded.
The blocking service is, in turn, linked to the MCEIR.
Once a theft is reported, the PCBS will immediately alert the other local telcos to block the stolen handset as well.
The official said the entire process takes between 10 minutes and two hours, depending on how fast the local telcos provide MCEIR with information on the stolen device.
Major telcos and Nuemera Sdn Bhd declined to comment when contacted by The Star.
Read more at https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2017/12/02/telcos-slow-to-take-up-pcbs-system-phoneblocking-service-delayed-as-firms-reluctant-to-pay-maintena/#lZbtBKLwtWrik377.99
