A new service that will let victims of mobile phone robbery instantly disable their handset - even if thieves remove its SIM card is to be launched on Monday.

The remoteXT service, blocks the phone, regardless of which network it is on, totally wiping all the information contained on it including text messages, contacts, ringtones and other downloads.

As phones become increasingly sophisticated, the developers of this service say it will also safeguard information such as email and other data used by mobile workers.

However the service does not come cheap starting at £11 a month but the developers of the service are running a webchat on Monday to look at the issue of mobile phone theft.

Phone theft has risen 190 per cent in recent years, with one third of all UK robberies now solely involving mobile phones. With a handset stolen every 12 seconds, phone jackings are costing UK consumers £390 million pounds every year.

Mark Whiteman, mobile phone security expert, will be talking live online about this problem at www.webchats.on Monday 2 October at 14.30. Those interested in hearing this webchat can also post questions to the speakers now.