Sanchar Saathi portal

Sanchar Saathi portal is a citizen centric initiative of Department of Telecommunications to empower mobile subscribers, strengthen their security and increase awareness about citizen centric initiatives of the Government.

Services offered

Sanchar Saathi empowers citizens by allowing them to know the mobile connections issued in their name, get disconnected the connections not required by them, block/trace lost mobile phones and check genuineness of devices while buying a new/old mobile phone. Sanchar Saathi contains various modules like CEIR, TAFCOP etc.

In addition, Keep Yourself Aware facility provides latest updates and awareness material on different aspects related to end user security, telecom and information security.

Know the mobile connections issued in their name

An individual subscriber can acquire maximum 9 mobile connections in total from all the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) in India. This restriction is 6 for subscribers in J&K, Assam and North Eastern states. Mobile connection(s) activated chronologically which are more than the prescribed limit will be disconnected by the Service Provider.

• To know the mobile connections issued in your name, visit https://tafcop.sancharsaathi.gov.in/telecomUser/
• Enter your mobile number. Login into the portal by using the OTP received on the mobile number.
• The list of mobile connections are listed with the option to indicate ‘This is not my number’ or ‘Not required’.

How to report fraudulent registered mobile connections

• Know the mobile connections issued in your name, visit https://tafcop.sancharsaathi.gov.in/telecomUser/
• Enter your mobile number. Login into the portal by using the OTP received on the mobile number.
• The list of mobile connections are listed with the option to indicate ‘This is not my number’ or ‘Not required’.
• Go through the mobile connections and check the option ‘This is not my number’ or ‘Not required’ against the mobile connection(s) to be reported.
• Click the ‘Report’ button to submit the request.

The mobile connections reported as 'This is not my number' or 'Not Required' are flagged for re-verification by the service provider. Re-verification is the process of confirming the identity of the existing subscriber with the records available with the service provider. This may be done by using any of the digital methods available. The photograph of subscriber and his/her Proof of Identity (PoI) document is compared with the existing records to ascertain the identity of actual user. It is not necessary that the subscriber requires to submit the same PoI document as submitted while obtaining the mobile connection. Any specified PoI document can be submitted. The verification shall be for the identity of the subscriber.

To know the list of approved PoA and PoI documents, click here. 

Timelines for various activities for the mobile SIMs which are flagged for re-verification are as under:

• Outgoing services shall be suspended within 30 days.
• Incoming services shall be suspended within 45 days.
• Disconnection of mobile connection which failed in re-verification within 60 days.
• Note: In case a subscriber is on international roaming or with physical disability or hospitalization, additional 30 days may be provided for above activities.

Whether a mobile connection obtained using an individual subscriber's PoI/ PoA can be transferred to any other individual subscriber?
Mobile connection is non-transferable. The change in name between the blood relatives/legal heirs is permitted subject to no objection from the existing subscriber and submission of new Customer Acquisition Form (CAF) and following the procedure of registering new subscriber. A new SIM Card is issued in such cases. For this process the service provider can be contacted by the subscriber.

Block/trace lost mobile phones

CEIR is the citizen centric portal of Department of Telecommunications for tracing the lost/stolen mobile devices. This also facilitates for blocking of lost/stolen mobile devices in network of all telecom operators so that lost/stolen devices can not be used in India. If anyone tries to use the blocked mobile phone, its traceability is generated. Once mobile phone is found it may be unblocked on the portal for its normal use by the citizens.

The user should block the IMEI of their phone if it has been lost/stolen.

How to block a lost/stolen phone?

The user can block the phone's IMEI by any one of the following means:

• Visit https://www.ceir.gov.in/Request/CeirUserBlockRequestDirect.jsp and submit the required form.
  • The procedure to do it is as follows:
  • File a report with the police, and keep a copy of the report.
  • Get a duplicate SIM Card for the lost number from your telecom service provider (eg, Airtel, Jio, Voda/Idea, BSNL, MTNL etc.). This is essential because you will need to provide this as the primary mobile number (OTP will be sent on this number) while submitting the request for blocking your IMEI.
  • Note: As per TRAI's regulation, SMS facility on re-issued SIMs is enabled after 24 hours of SIM activation.
  • Get your documents ready - a copy of police report and an Identity Proof must be provided. You can also provide the mobile purchase invoice.
  • Fill out the request registration form for blocking the IMEI of lost/stolen phone, and attach the required documents. Click here to go to the form.
  • After submitting the form, you will be given a Request ID. The same can be used for checking the status of your request and for unblocking the IMEI in future.
• Through State Police. Note: If the user receives the message "Request already exist for IMEI *** and mobile number *** with FirNo = *** on *** by State police." after submitting the blocking request, it means that the request for their IMEI and mobile number already exists in the CEIR system through

After the successful submission of blocking request, the user's phone is blocked within 24 hours. After the phone has been blocked, it cannot be used on any network across India.
Note: This does not prevent the police from tracking the lost/stolen phone.

When to unblock your phone's IMEI?

The user should unblock the IMEI of their phone only if it has been found and is in possession of the user. The same can be done as follows,

To unblock a lost/stolen phone's IMEI, the user has to report to local Police that it is found. After that user can unblock the phone by any one of the following means:

• Visit https://www.ceir.gov.in/Request/CeirUserUnblockRequestDirect.jsp and submit the required form.
• After submitting the form, the IMEI will be unblocked.
• Note: If the user has registered the blocking request with State Police, they will have to approach State police to register the unblocking request for their phone.

Check the validity of your mobile device even before buying it 

Through Know Your Mobile (KYM) facility, you can check the validity of your mobile device even before buying it.

IMEI is written on the mobile packaging box. It could be found on the mobile bill/invoice.

• From your mobile you can check the IMEI number by dialling *#06#, IMEI number will be shown on mobile screen. If the status of the mobile is shown as Black-listed, duplicate or already in use, please avoid buying the mobile. 
• Type KYM <15 digit IMEI number> from your mobile and send the SMS to 14422.
• Download the KYM app from Play Store (for Android) or from App Store (for iOS).
• Visit https://www.ceir.gov.in/Device/CeirIMEIVerification.jsp

Source : Sanchar Sarathi portal