The Ministry of Communications of India issued an order in November last year requiring smartphone manufacturers to pre-load the Indian state-owned biometric application Aadhaar on all mobile phone equipment sold in India. The decree had an impact on major mobile phone manufacturers such as Apple, OPPO, VIVO and Mi.
According to Reuters, the Indian Ministry of Information Technology has reviewed the proposal, “not in favour of mandatory pre-loading of Aadhaar on smartphones”. The authorities indicated that this decision was taken in consultation with electronics industry stakeholders. India’s only identification authority (UIDAI) stated in a statement to Reuters on Friday: “The decision today is in line with the broader model. In the past few years, the Government of India has made several unsuccessful attempts to request smartphone manufacturers to preload government applications.” According to Reuters, the industry directory consulted earlier this year showed that this Aadhaar application was the sixth request by the Government to pre-load government applications on mobile phones in two years. There have been six objections from the industry.At the end of last year, the Indian government asked Apple, Samsung and other smartphone manufacturers to pre-load Sanchar Sathi.This is a secure application operated by the Government of India that cannot be deleted and raises public concerns about privacy.
Critics claim that the Government of India has packaged Sanchar Sathi as a way of helping users recover lost or stolen mobile phones, but has in fact ensured that all mobile phones can be traced by the Government, which obviously has an impact on user privacy. Soon after India issued its injunction, Apple indicated that it would not comply. Sanchar Sahathi is still available for installation on App Store, but the Indian Ministry of Communication and Information Technology’s decision today eliminates the requirement to pre-load new equipment or automatically transfer to iPhone in use through iOS upgrades.
