Carriers, Government to Fight Cell Phone Theft

Carriers outside the U.S. have been doing this for years; North American carriers have been dragging their feet. It's a wonder they've agreed to do it, even on such an extended timetable.

A lost, or stolen device? Another purchase, and a new contract = more $$$$.

Carriers used to keep databases of lost/stolen phones when the primary revenue stream was voice. With data surpassing voice revenue about 10 years ago I have to guess the databases were dropped much for what Juggernaut suggests - $$$$. Locked phones usually mean the carrier is now seeing a revenue stream of about $120 per month from that stolen phone. The original owner is still under the contract obligation so now they are receiving double revenue from one subsidized phone. Oh, AVRPU is average revenue per user which just went up. The stolen phone was replaced by a non-subsidized unit, so all the profit goes to the bottom line and the stolen phone is a write off so its profit also flows to the bottom line.

Still makes me nervous. Any time the government sticks it's nose into our business it gets screwed up. We don't need a list of what phones have been stolen sent to the government, we need carriers like Verizon and Nextel who block the phones making them worthless.

The personal information is the responsibility of the owner and should be protected with a password or code so the information remains private.