Explained | What is Sanchar Saathi? Why order to mandatorily install the app in all smartphones has triggered surveillance concerns

Government's directive to all phone manufacturers on installing its cybersecurity application has sparked off concerns over privacy, surveillance

A row has erupted over the directive of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to mobile phone manufacturers to ensure that the government's cybersecurity application, Sanchar Saathi, is pre-installed on all mobile handsets manufactured or imported for sale in India within 90 days, starting November 28.

While the government has said the move aims to protect citizens from cyber fraud and can help recover lost phones, Opposition parties, including the Congress, have alleged that this is a step towards state surveillance and demanded the immediate rollback of this direction.

What is Sanchar Saathi

Sanchar Saathi, a digital safety initiative of the Centre set up in May 2023, provides multiple citizen-centric services through a mobile app and its web portal.

These services include Chakshu, which helps phone users report suspected cyber fraud. It can also be used to report commercial spam calls.

"Such proactive reporting of suspected fraud communication helps Department of Telecommunications in prevention of misuse of telecom resources for cybercrime, financial frauds etc," the Sanchar Sathi website says.

According to the website, Chakshu also enables people to report malicious web links and fraudulent communications. These include phishing links and device cloning attempts and other malware delivered through SMS, RCS, iMessage and social media platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram.

The app can also help users report an international call with an Indian number. It does not require OTP verification on the phone.

Under the initiative, more than 42.14 lakh mobiles have been blocked and over 26.11 lakh lost or stolen mobile handsets have been traced, according to the Sanchar Saathi website.

Over 288 lakh requests have been received from persons wanting to get information regarding mobile connections registered in their name. Of these, over 254 lakh requests have been resolved.

Directive to phone manufacturers

The Department of Telecommunications, which comes under the Ministry of Communications headed by Jyotiraditya Scindia, has directed mobile phone manufacturers to ensure that the app is pre-installed on all mobile handsets.

The directive, issued under the Telecom Cyber Security Rules 2024, says, "Ensure that the pre-installed Sanchar Saathi application is 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."

For phones that have already been manufactured, the companies have been asked to push the app through software updates.

The directive also says that the manufacturers and importers must submit their compliance reports to the DoT within 120 days of the directive’s issuance.

The Centre has warned that failure to comply with these directions shall attract action.

The concerns

The government directive has sparked off surveillance concerns.

According to a MediaNama report, the directive reflects a disregard for user consent... a government-mandated, non-removable, pre-installed application raises far more serious concerns about privacy, user agency, and the scope of (misuse of) ministerial powers to compel manufacturers to install state-owned software on every smartphone sold in India.

The central issue in combating cybercrime is awareness, not forced adoption. A pre-installed app cannot achieve its stated purpose unless users understand how to recognise cyber threats and how to report them, as well as how cybercrime really works in practice, the report states.

A 'no' from Apple

Apple, meanwhile, has said it does not plan to comply with the order.

Apple does not plan to comply with the directive and will tell the government it does not follow such mandates anywhere in the world as they raise a host of privacy and security issues for the company's iOS ecosystem, said two of industry sources who are familiar with Apple's concerns.