New SIM card technology launched by the Telco in a Box franchise will give parents, companies and even religious leaders greater power to censor mobile phone usage.
The telecommunications franchise technology relies on a four to six digit second personal identification number, PIN2, that can be used to unlock the "fixed dialling" function on mobile phones. Administrators may nominate up to 50 fixed dialling numbers that the phone is able to call. Outbound calls to any numbers not in the fixed dialling list are restricted.
The service was launched by the Australian business services franchise and will be offered by its 70 service providers and franchises.
While the Telco in a box telecommunications franchise managing director, Damian Kay, acknowledges that fixed dialling technology infringes on the personal freedom of users, he asserts that it may, in some cases, be a necessary evil.
"The SIM card is not for everyone," he said, in regards to the telecommunications franchise technology, "only for people who want to restrict their caller list. For example, a business may want to cap their sales reps calls to stop them from running up a bill the size of Texas. Or a religious group may want to prevent members from making 'inappropriate' calls."
Kay suggests that restricting call access may be the solution to the behemoth phone bill debts that teenagers too often accrue. He expects the business services franchise service providers to target the new PIN2-enabled SIM cards towards parents and school associations, with the child market in mind.
PIN2 technology has been around for a fair while, the Telco in a Box mobile franchise managing director said, but as the cost of implementing the technology far outweighs the benefit for major telecommunications carriers, there has been no incentive for these carriers to offer the service.
The telecommunications franchise was prompted to offer fixed dialling services upon being approached by a "conservative and reclusive" religious group who could not be named.
According to the Telco in a Box hamebased franchise, fixed dialling was found to be the most efficient and easiest way to implement call control restrictions for mobile phone users after more than 12 months of research.
14-Mar-2007