MUMBAI: For the first time, the mobile majors, government officials and legal experts across the telecom industry, came together at Mobile Security India 2007 seminar, to discuss the issues related to mobile theft. Supported by Indian Cellular Association, sponsored by Samsung Telecommunications India and organized by Bharat Exhibitions, this seminar brought forth the critical issues and challenges faced by Indian mobile industry and discussed the legal and technical ways to retrieve the lost phones.

Mr. H.C.Ryu, Managing Director, Samsung Telecommunications India delivered the key note address at the inaugural session. Other panellists in the inaugural session were Shri S.D.Saxena, Director - Finance, BSNL; Mr. Jagbir Singh, CTO - Mobility, Bharti Airtel Ltd; Mr. D.P.S. Seth - Former Member, TRAI and Mr. T.R. Dua, Sr. Director, Cellular Operators Association of India. Vote of thanks was delivered by Mr. Pankaj Mohindroo, National President, Indian Cellular Association.

With the explosion in mobile industry, the Mobile thefts and misplacement are becoming a very common occurrence. This not only affects the consumer financially but also exposes their personal data, videos and official presentations for misuse.

Speaking on this occasion Mr. Ryu Managing Director Samsung Telecommunication India said, "Close to Rs. 500 crores worth of Mobile phones are lost or stolen annually. To compound matters, it is next to impossible for general consumers to locate or retrieve their stolen handsets. Samsung identifies this as a significant issue in mobile phone usage and believes that mobile phone consumers rightfully deserve security and tracking of the handsets through associated features."

Elaborating the work undertaken by Samsung on mobile security, Mr. Ryu said "Secured mobile phone is the right of every consumer. Through Samsung's secured feature phones, we tried to address three larger issues of mobile security i.e., securing your mobile phones and preventing any untoward usage or incident through that phone, securing the safety of near and dear ones through emergency SOS and securing the confidential data's that are stored in that phone."

Addressing the gathering Mr. Pankaj Mohindroo, National President of Indian Cellular Association, said, "ICA has always supported consumer welfare and will continue doing so. We have recommended registry of stolen / lost mobile phone in closed cooperation with police stations , police headquarter & mobile careers. I'm happy to note that companies are coming up with innovative applications which will make consumers feel more secure and will also help companies to track their misplaced handsets."

Mr. Sudhir Gupta, Advisor - Mobile Networks TRAI chaired the technical session titled "Identifying and Mitigating Threats to Mobile Handset Security" which was attended by Mr. Rajat Mukarji, Vice President - Corporate Affairs, Idea Cellular Limited; Mr. Pavan Duggal, Advocate - Supreme Court of India & Cyberlaw Consultant and Mr. Mohan Rao, Head Protocol, Samsung India Software Operations.

Over 100 delegates comprising of Reliance communications, Nortel, Airtel, BSNL, Delhi Police, Hutch, Idea, Ministry of Communications and IT, MTNL, Tata Teleservices, Telecommunication Engineering Centre, TRAI, ICA, Samsung Telecommunications India and leading media houses attended the event.