Government is likely to launch a pilot project to test a new technology that helps locate lost or cloned mobile phones on real time basis.

The Department of Telecom (DoT) plans to use the technology developed by Telecordia to locate mobile phones in real time, sources said.

Telecom Secretary R Chandrashekhar has asked DoT officials to work on the proposal made by MNP Interconnection Telecom Solution, one of the companies that is working on mobile number portability scheme, of deploying Central Device Information Registry (CDIR).

The technology seems "worthwhile" to top DoT officials and the Secretary is of the view that trials can be conducted at no cost to the government to assess the utility of the proposal, sources said.

The CDIR developed by Telecordia, stakeholder in MNP Interconnection, consolidates real-time and non-real time to address traditional mobile device challenges such as mobile theft, invalid device blocking, counterfeiting and cloning detection.

Before starting trial of this service, DoT is working to put proper conditions so that there is no misuse of data and information collected by MITS during trial.