Govt mandates ‘Sanchar Saathi App’ on all mobile handsets used in India

NEW DELHI: To safeguard the citizens from buying the non-genuine handsets, enabling easy reporting of suspected misuse of telecom resources and to increase the effectiveness of the Sanchar Saathi initiative, the DoT has mandated some norms for the manufacturers and importers of mobile handsets that are intended for use in India.

They have been asked to ensure that the Sanchar Saathi mobile application is pre-installed on all mobile handsets manufactured or imported for use in India.

The mobile handsets must have pre-installed Sanchar Saathi application readily visible and accessible to the end users at the time of first use or device setup, and that its functionalities are not disabled or restricted, the Ministry of Communications said in a statement Monday evening.

For all such devices that have already been manufactured and are in sales channels in India, the manufacturer and importers of mobile handsets shall endeavour to push the App through software updates.

Directions mandate completing the implementation within 90 days and submitting the report within 120 days.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is undertaking the Sanchar Saathi initiative for curbing the misuse of telecom resources for cyber fraud and ensuring telecom cyber security.

DoT has developed the Sanchar Saathi portal and App, which enables citizens to check the genuineness of a mobile handset through the IMEI number, along with other facilities like reporting suspected fraudulent communications, lost/ stolen mobile handsets, checking mobile connections in their name, and trusted contact details of banks/ financial institutions.

The Telecom Cyber Security (TCS) rules empower the central government to issue directions to manufacturers of telecommunication equipment bearing an International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number to provide assistance as required in relation to tampered telecommunication equipment or IMEI number.

The Rules also mandate that such manufacturers or importers shall ensure compliance with the directions as may be issued by the Central Government for the purpose of giving effect to the rules.

“Mobile handsets bearing duplicate or spoofed IMEI pose serious endangerment to telecom cybersecurity. Spoofed/tampered IMEIs in tthe elecom network leads to situation where same IMEI is working in different devices at different places simultaneously and pose challenges in action against such IMEIs. India has big second-hand mobile device market,” Ministry of Communications said.

Cases have also been observed where stolen or blacklisted devices are being re-sold, the Ministry said. It makes the purchaser an abettor in crime and causes financial loss to them.

The blocked/blacklisted IMEIs can be checked using the Sanchar Saathi App. Sanchar Saathi Mobile App can be downloaded to avail various services on both Android and iOS devices. (ANI)