As of December 1, telecommunications company Cable and Wireless, will shut down mobile phones that are stolen from its customers, rendering them useless.

Minister of Mining, Energy and Telecommunications Clive Mullings, told Parliament yesterday that the move followed a request from the Government for the three mobile telephone providers to take steps that would help to protect their customers.

Mr. Mullings said that Digicel and MiPhone have expressed a willingness to take similar action when their customers' phones are stolen. However, these two providers did not give a start-up date.

Motion brought to house

Two years ago, then Opposition Spokesman on Education, Andrew Holness, brought a motion to the House of Representatives encouraging the Government to put a similar measure in place.

Mr. Mullings yesterday announced that the agreement between American Movil and Oceanic Digital Jamaica Limited, which trades as MiPhone, to acquire control of the shares in MiPhone, was now complete. The shares were transferred on November 5.

He said American Movil said it would begin to roll out a range of services shortly.