New challenge: Feature phone companies likely to red flag DoT mandate

New requirements for feature phones to support 'auto readout' of emergency messages will increase their cost due to the need for more memory

Mobile device makers are raising concerns about a Department of Telecommunications (DoT) notification issued on September 17, mandating that all feature phones sold in the country support the ‘auto readout’ of emergency messages in Hindi, English, and four additional languages initially.

According to Counterpoint Research, India has 230 million feature phone users, most of whom rely on 2G services. However, the number of feature phones sold, which was 60 million in the calendar year (CY) 2023, is expected to decline to 55 million in CY 2024. Leading players in this market include Lava, itel, and Nokia.

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