The FCC is embarking on a bilateral agreement with Mexico that it hopes will aid ongoing efforts to curb trafficking of stolen mobile phones.
Chairman Julius Genachowski is set to outline the specics of the plan in a call on Tuesday. He will be joined by Hector Olavarria Tapia, the Under-Secretary of Communications of Mexico’s Secretariat of Communications and Transport (SCT), to unveil the new initiative. In a statement the FCC said the agreement will help combat mobile device theft and the cross-border trafficking of mobile devices.
Genachowski and Under-Secretary Tapia will also be joined on the call by Washington, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department Chief of Police Cathy Lanier.
The new announcement follows on an initiative launched by the FCC, law enforcement, and the wireless industry in April 2012, which included commitments by the wireless industry to develop a shared database to prevent the use of stolen devices and a public education campaign to remind consumers to use passwords and apps to locate, lock, and wipe devices remotely.
Recent reports indicate that the theft of mobile devices has increased over 40 percent in some U.S. cities, such as New York. Reports also suggest that some stolen devices in the U.S. are being resold in Latin American markets, including Mexico.
