| 17th December 2004 - The GSM Association (GSMA), the
global trade association for the world’s GSM mobile
operators, continues its drive to improve operators’
ability to deal with mobile phone theft, through plans
to introduce more cost effective Equipment Identity Registers
(EIR) - local databases used to blacklist stolen phones.
“The cost to operators today of implementing local
stolen phone databases, on a per subscriber basis, is
prohibitively high,” said Rob Conway, CEO of the
GSM Association. “This has been a significant barrier
to implementation for many operators, in many markets
of the world. Our members are in need of more cost effective
solutions, tailored to the needs of their markets.”
In response, the GSMA has created GSM Technology Services,
a venture with iLabs that will offer cost effective
EIR solutions together with improved functionality.
“Over time we believe we will be able to leverage
greater economies of scale to further reduce costs,
and therefore improve the viability for more operators
to develop their own customised databases,” said
Conway.
GSM Technology Services will offer two alternative
cost-effective Equipment Identity Register (EIR) solutions,
customised to meet mobile operators’ specific market
based requirements. The first is an innovative centralised
managed EIR service that will significantly lower the
initial investment required to implement an EIR system.
The second is a newly developed local EIR database solution.
Both options are expected to offer substantially reduced
set-up costs compared with the offerings currently available
on today’s EIR solutions market.
"We are excited to partner with the GSMA for the
creation of this new entity" said Mr. Sandeep Reddy,
Vice Chairman iLabs group. "It will be our endeavor
to develop and take to market highly relevant offerings
to the GSM community working closely with the Industry
body", Reddy added.
The identities of stolen handsets uploaded to local
EIR databases are uploaded to a central database hosted
by the GSM Association (the Central Equipment Identity
Register or CEIR). The GSMA is also poised to extend
and upgrade the functionality and scalability of its
central database.
Operators connected to the existing central database
will be migrated to the upgraded global database during
early 2005. The upgraded database will be able to accept
new connections from the second quarter.
The GSMA’s announcement builds on the agreement,
reached earlier in 2004 between the Association and
leading handset manufacturers on measures to enhance
the integrity of handset identities.
The investment in the upgraded global database and
greater security of electronic identities underlines
the commitment of the industry to the fight against
phone theft.
About the GSM Association
The GSM Association (GSMA) is the global trade association
that exists to promote, protect and enhance the interests
of GSM mobile operators throughout the world. At the
end of September 2004, it consisted of more than 670
second and third generation mobile operators and more
than 150 manufacturers and suppliers. The Association's
members provide mobile services to approaching 1.2 billion
customers across more than 200 countries and territories
around the world.
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