No grey areas as Vodacom blacklists

Johannesburg, 28 Feb 2005

As of 1 March, Vodacom will no longer follow the practice of grey-listing lost or stolen cellphones, but will instead blacklist them.

The difference between the two options is that with grey-listing, a phone is not cut off from the network, meaning it is possible to track who is using it, whereas blacklisting involves disconnecting the phone from the network, so that it can no longer be used.

According to the cellular operator`s chief communications officer, Mthobi Tyamzashe, the company is aware this is an important issue and it recognises that blacklisting will go a long way to counteract the growing threat of cellular theft and fraud.

"In the spirit of the recent statements by the minister of safety and security regarding cellphone crime, Vodacom decided it would be appropriate to fall in line with the majority of organisations that practise blacklisting," he says.

"There is also a strong push by Business Against Crime for this, and we have thus agreed to follow the same approach as the majority of the industry and go the blacklisting route, even though this way of doing things has a number of shortcomings and the international market trend is actually towards grey-listing."

He believes the change will provide peace of mind to the company`s customers, assuring them their cellphone or SIM card is not in use fraudulently.

"The process of blacklisting is relatively simple, and should a subscriber either lose or have a cellphone stolen, they can report the loss immediately to the Vodacom 24-hour customer care centre by calling 082 111 from a landline, or 111 from any Vodacom handset," says Tyamzashe.

"Subscribers must also request that the phone be blacklisted, whereupon a blacklisting reference number will be issued for insurance purposes and for reporting to the police."