The Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association has officially launched a campaign to stem mobile phone theft, which could lead to changes to both the Telecommunications Act and the Crimes Act.

Today the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association (AMTA) conceded that it was in discussions with the Australian Communications Association (ACA) over this regulatory issue and possible changes to the communications legislation.

Launched following the Australasian Crime Commissioners Conference which is currently being held in Melbourne, and labelled -Mind Your Mobile", the campaign heralds industry-wide stolen handset blocking by the end of March 2003, as reported by ZDNet Australia yesterday.

Telstra was the first cab off the rank in February to announce it would commence blocking IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) numbers in August 2002, with Vodafone announcing its intention to do the same in December this year. Optus has alos signalled its commitment to block stolen handsets by March 31, 2003.

However, it is still unclear as to whether it's actually legal for carriers to block mobile phones, according to AMTA CEO Ross Monaghan.

-We want to make sure there are no legal impediments," Monaghan told ZDNet Australia. -We're making sure carriers and police are indemnified by blocking stolen handsets from their networks."

According to Monaghan one of the issues is that the blocking of IMEI numbers, a fairly recent phenomena, isn't specifically mentioned in the Act.

The mobile telecommunications industry has been lambasted for not making in-roads into IMEI blocking sooner, with the NSW Police earlier this year pointing out that carriers make money out of stolen mobile phone use and banning stolen phones from their networks would impact their turnover.

Although Monaghan conceded it could -take quite some time" to make changes to the legislation, he said the ACA has indicated that it would issue -a letter of comfort to carriers in the meantime".

With more than 100,000 mobile phones stolen in Australia last year, 50 percent from parked cars, the mobile telecommunications industry is also in talks with the Attorney General's department about making it illegal for people to tamper with mobile phone IMEI numbers--a scam known in the industry as re-birthing--and potential changes to the Crimes Act that would require.

"The UK is recommending up to five years jail for anyone who tampers with a mobile phone," according to Monaghan. -That's a pretty good incentive" not to do so, he added.

Although Monaghan said he had -no opinion" on Australian jail sentences period for mobile phone IMEI number tampering, -the bottom line is laws [here] need to be changed".

The AMTA is also working with handset manufacturers to look at security features in phones, according to Monaghan. Although security features such as phone locks and SIM locks are incorporated into some handsets, Monaghan said the aim was to make these more secure, as well as incorporate other security features.

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