Cellcos team up to combat phone thieves

South Africa’s three GSM operators – Cell C, MTN and Vodacom – have agreed to clamp down on mobile phone theft by signing an agreement that will see the trio sharing their databases on lost, stolen and ‘destroyed’ handsets. Mobile phone theft is currently a major problem in the country, but up until now only Cell C has made it policy to disable handsets reported as stolen or lost. MTN and Vodacom merely disable the SIM cards of such phones allowing thieves to re-use the handsets with a new SIM. Now all three will share their databases and ensure that any phone reported missing is rendered unusable.