Have you ever lost a phone in your life? If yes, then you have a clue of how it feels like for your phone to be stolen. Imagine the pain of losing all the vital information stored in your phone and all the essential contacts. It is horrifying, right? Well, now that the country is expecting the rate of mobile phone subscribers to increase to 40 million by 2020, it has come up with a strategy of protecting every smartphone user. The government, through the Ministry of Communication, intends to develop a system that will be able to track and switch off all stolen phones.
Technology is something that we have all come to love. There are a lot of people across the world using phones than it was years back. Ghana is one of the countries in the world, which has had a very notable improvement in the number of phone subscribers. As per the latest statistics, Ghana’s mobile penetration is set to hit 130% come the year 2020. As you all know, the higher the number of phones, the higher the risks of losing them. Now the bigger question here is how the government will be able to pull this plan.
Can a phone be tracked after changing IMEI?
While it might seem impossible to some people, there is every reason to trust this initiative by the ministry of communication. Basically, we all know that when someone steals a phone, they remove a sim card before switching it off to prevent being tracked. It is common knowledge now that thieves no longer does this.
They have advanced. Currently, they alter the IMEI codes to avoid any reference to the phones they steal. However, mobile operators have come up with another strategy whereby they can easily trace stolen phones. Perhaps, this is one of the strategies the government is planning to employ to help its citizens when they lose their phones into the wrong hands.
How does the system intend to achieve this?
Reports reveal that the Ministry of Communication Ghana is currently setting up a Central Equipment Registry. The system is highly developed that it will be able to detect and track unique International Mobile Equipment Number for all mobile gadgets in the country. Precisely, the system will be only able to track smartphones only. Besides, the higher percentage of people recording phone lose cases are those owning smartphones.
Every smartphone user will be required to register their phone for them to track their phones when they are stolen. This way, the Ministry of Communication will be able to monitor their device and render them unusable when stolen.
It is all a matter of time before the system officially starts working. Currently, the minister of Communication, Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful is waiting for the cabinet to review and accept the proposal. If the proposal is passed on time, the system will be ready for use by the end of this year.
In addition, the ministry is determined to ensure its citizens are safe from phone thefts. To Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, the system will be perfect. She has confirmed that they will have the capability of detecting people entering Ghana with unauthorized phones.
In her own words she said, “But for those who slip in the phones through unauthorized routes, or somebody is coming [to Ghana from abroad] and they pack it in their luggage, and so it is introduced into the country without the knowledge of our port authority…it is those devices that we are seeking to rope into the network.”
It is not clear, but the government seems concerned about the latest reports released by Jumia. The world’s largest E-commerce company revealed that Ghana is among the countries in Africa with the most significant mobile sales. Currently, mobile markets stand at 34.5 million subscribers. This translates to a penetration rate of 119%. This is very impressive. Are you wondering what might have caused this growth? Four factors have led to this growth. The factors are as follows: a significant drop in smartphone prices increased interest in social media by the youths, easy accessibility of payment mobile payment platforms, and the rapid rise of online retail markets.
Recently, there has been an increasing rate of stolen phones in Ghana. At times, tracking of these phone becomes almost impossible for the owners. For this reason, the Ministry of Communication has proposed to introduce a system that will render stolen phones unusable once reported. The system is set to become operational before the end of this year. Many Ghanaians consider this initiative appropriate and fit because it will protect them.
Source: Yen
