🔗 Share this article

In a major decision, India's telecoms department has privately instructed smartphone companies to include all new devices with a government-backed cybersecurity tool that cannot be deleted. This order, which was revealed, is expected to alarm major tech firms like Apple and prompt concerns among privacy advocates.

A Global Pattern in Cybersecurity Regulation

To combat a rising tide of online fraud and hacking, India is aligning with governments internationally. This step mirrors comparable rules framed in countries like Russia, which are designed to prevent the use of lost phones for scams and promote official tools.

What Companies Are Bound by the Directive?

The latest order affects key mobile phone brands operating in the Indian market. These include Apple, a company that has previously clashed with regulators over similar applications, as well as leaders like Samsung, Vivo, Oppo, and Xiaomi.

Details of the Government Mandate

An order dated 28 November gives phone manufacturers a 90-day deadline to guarantee that the official Sanchar Saathi application is included on all new mobile phones. A critical provision is that users will not be able to remove the software.

For handsets currently in the supply chain, manufacturers are instructed to deliver the application via software updates. It is important that this order was not made public and was sent privately to specific manufacturers.

User Consent Worries Voiced

However, technology experts have raised major concerns regarding this decision. A legal expert specialising in tech matters stated that India's action is a worrying development.

“The government practically eliminates user consent as a meaningful choice,” commented Mishi Choudhary, an advocate working on internet rights issues.

Digital rights groups had also condemned a comparable requirement by Russia in August for a state-backed messenger called Max to be pre-installed on phones.

The Size of the Indian Smartphone Landscape

India, among the world's largest telephone markets, boasts over 1.2 billion subscribers. Official figures indicate that the Sanchar Saathi application, launched in January, has reportedly helped locating over 700,000 lost phones, with around 50,000 found in October by itself.

The government argues that the tool is essential to combat the “significant endangerment” of mobile network cybersecurity from cloned or tampered IMEI numbers, which enable fraud and system misuse.

Apple's Likely Response

Apple's iOS powers an approximate 4.5% of the 735 million smartphones in India, with the vast majority using Android, as per market research. While Apple includes its own proprietary applications on its devices, its internal rules reportedly forbid the inclusion of any third-party app before the sale of a smartphone.

“Apple has in the past refused these kinds of requests from governments,” commented Tarun Pathak, a research director at Counterpoint.

“It’s expected to seek a middle ground: rather than a mandatory inclusion, they might discuss and propose an alternative to nudge users towards downloading the application.”

Queries for comment from Apple, Google, Samsung, and Xiaomi went unresponded. India’s telecoms ministry also did not respond.

The Role of the IMEI and the Application's Function

The IMEI, or International Mobile Equipment Identity, is a 14- to 17-digit number assigned to each mobile device. It is typically used by carriers to cut off cellular access for phones flagged as stolen.

The Sanchar Saathi app is mainly designed to help users track and track missing smartphones across all mobile carriers, using a national registry. It also lets them to identify, and terminate, unauthorised mobile connections.

Impressive Adoption and Results

With over 5 million installs since its launch, the app has already been used to disable more than 3.7 million missing mobile phones. Additionally, over 30 million fraudulent connections have also been disconnected through its use.

The authorities states that the software helps combating cyberthreats and assists in the tracking and disabling of missing phones, thereby helping police in recovering handsets and preventing cloned devices out of the illicit trade.