The Example of Costa Rica and the Need of Coordination Among Mobile Operators

Advised technically by the GSMA and within the framework of SUTEL, Costa Rica became the first country in Latin-America to connect all of its operator networks to the GSMA’s IMEI Database to share stolen mobile phone data.



ICE, Movistar, and Claro as well as Tuyo Movil and Fullmovil chose to use GSMA’s Database to exchange the IMEI information of every device stolen in Costa Rica to ensure those devices are denied access to local networks and the data is available internationally to those of the 800 GSMA operator members in 219 countries and territories ntat are also connected to the IMEI Database.

“This list or database will update every 24 hours and the affected user; will have the option to report devices as stolen or missing with the operator in charge of reporting the IMEI to the GSMA. In this way, we hope the mobile phone theft decreases as well as the black market”, said George Miley, member of the council of SUTEL.

The Memorandum of Understanding signed by 5 mobile operators of Costa Rica is not only a great advance to the Central-American country, but it also represents a significant milestone for the entire Latin American region and its fight against the growing crime problem in the region.

“Handset theft has increased significantly in recent years and handsets are becoming more attractive to the thieves. Every stolen phone causes misery, possible violence and psychological consequences for mobile users”, stated James Moran, Security Director of GSMA. He also expressed his hope that the initiative in Costa Rica “serves as an example and model to the rest of the region and we are hoping to see similar developments in other countries very soon”.

As GSM and 3G devices have become more sophisticated and more expensive, they are also unfortunately more attractive to thieves, and since about 2002, there has been an increased need for the IMEI DB to be used as a tool to combat handset theft. Many mobile operators have responded to the problem of handset theft by deploying EIRs in their networks and connecting them to the IMEI DB. At present, there are 78 operators connected to the IMEI DB from the following countries:   • Belgium • Chile • Costa Rica • Cyprus • Denmark • Finland • France • Germany • Ghana • Hungary • Ireland • Italy • Malta • Norway • Portugal • South Africa • Sweden • United Kingdom • Venezuela Source: GSMA Latin America

IMEI Database
The GSMA maintains a unique system known as the IMEI Database (IMEI DB), which is a global central database containing basic information on serial number (IMEI) ranges of millions of mobile devices (e.g. mobile phones, laptop data cards, etc.) that are in use across the world’s mobile networks.

The IMEI is a 15-digit number that is used to identify the device when it is used on a mobile phone network.

The IMEI must be unique for each device, so there needs to be a way of managing allocations of IMEIs to handset manufacturers to ensure that no two devices use the same IMEI.

The GSMA performs this role, and records all of the IMEIs that are allocated to mobile device manufacturers in the IMEI DB. When reserving IMEIs for a device manufacturer, the GSMA stores some basic information associated with the IMEI.

This information includes the manufacturer name and the model identifier of the associated handset and some of its technical capabilities (e.g. frequency bands supported by the handset, the handset power class, etc.). This initiative protects mobile phone users and ensures no details of a personal nature such as telephone numbers, addresses is exchanged.