Permanent blocking of stolen mobile phones on Vodafone Netherlands

In the first quarter of 2005 Vodafone will be the first mobile operator in the Netherlands to be able to permanently ban stolen phones of its customers on Vodafone's mobile networks. Minister of Justice Mr Donner proposed a change in the law making changing a handset's unique registration (IMEI) number illegal.

This will enable Vodafone Netherlands to implement Vodafone's international registration of stolen mobile phones, the Equipment Identity Register (EIR), already in place in 11 Vodafone countries and 5 partner networks. With this registration stolen handsets are banned from use on Vodafone's mobile networks.

This new measure will enhance Vodafone's existing policy of immediately barring SIM cards in all phones reported lost or stolen. According to police records in the Netherlands 240,000 mobile phones are stolen per year. To reach optimum effect all these databases are linked into an international database of stolen phones - the GSM Association's Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR).