Centre pulls pre-installation mandate for Sanchar Saathi app after backlash

The Ministry of Communications said that given the surge in voluntary downloads of Sanchar Saathi, pre-installation of the app will not be mandatory for manufacturers

Amid backlash, the Centre on Wednesday said it has decided not to make the pre-installation of the Sanchar Saathi app mandatory for mobile manufacturers.

 

"The government with an intent to provide access to cyber security to all citizens had mandated pre-installation of Sanchar Saathi app on all smartphones. The app is secure and purely meant to help citizens from bad actors in the cyber world," the Ministry of Communications said in a statement.

 

According to the ministry, the decision was taken due to a sharp rise in "voluntary downloads" of the app by users.

 

"So far, 14 million users have downloaded this app and are contributing to information on 2,000 fraud incidents per day. The number of users has been increasing rapidly and the mandate to install the app was meant to accelerate this process and make the app available to less aware citizens easily. Just in last one day, 600,000 citizens have registered for downloading the app which is a 10x increase in its uptake. This is an affirmation of faith by citizens on this app for protecting themselves provided to them by the government," the ministry said. 

 

Opposition to Sanchar Saathi

The directives to pre-install the app in all smartphones were issued by the Department of Telecom (DoT) on November 28. However, various smartphone giants, including Apple and Samsung, had reportedly informed the government informally that they were unlikely to comply, citing privacy concerns and arguing that the requirement entails firmware- and operating-system-level changes that are difficult to execute exclusively for India.

 

The development comes hours after Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia stated in the Lok Sabha that the Centre was open to revising the rules issued by the DoT on the Sanchar Saathi app based on public feedback.

 

Addressing concerns about the app being potentially used for surveillance and monitoring by the government, the minister said, “I must affirm that, on this app, neither is snooping possible, nor will snooping happen".

 

The original DoT notification not only mandated the pre-installation of the app but also required that it be non-deletable. Scindia, however, said on Tuesday that users would be free to delete it.