New Delhi: The government on Wednesday withdrew its order requiring all smartphones sold in India to come with Sanchar Saathi pre-installed.
In a statement, the Ministry of Communications said that the Central government has decided not to make the pre-installation of the Sanchar Saathi app mandatory for all mobile manufacturers over its “increasing acceptance.”
“Given Sanchar Saathi’s increasing acceptance, Government has decided not to make the pre- installation mandat
ory for mobile manufacturers,” the ministry said.
The original mandate targeted all phone makers, including global brands, and had triggered significant opposition from civil society groups and political figures who argued that it could enable mass surveillance.
“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 statement reads.
Government sources said the decision to revoke the mandate followed a “massive surge” in user downloads of the app — over six lakh (600,000) in the past 24 hours — which, they argued, had already accelerated its adoption.
The rollback marks a retreat by authorities in the face of mounting public and political pressure, and restores the voluntary status of Sanchar Saathi: users once again have the choice whether or not to install or use it.