The Government of India has walked back on its directive that made the pre-installation of the government-owned Sanchar Saathi App mandatory, stating that it “has decided not to make the pre-installation mandatory for mobile manufacturers.”
It is worth noting that the Ministry of Communications has yet to issue an official notice, and there was no mention of such a withdrawal in the recent parliamentary session held this morning, where Telecommunications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia stated only that they will act on the feedback received and are ready to make changes. He also affirmed that the Sanchar Saathi app will not be used for snooping.
Nikhil Pahwa on why SIM binding rules also must be revoked
After the government announced its withdrawal, Nikhil Pahwa, founder and editor of MediaNama, welcomed the government’s decision, saying, “The government has no business infiltrating our phones.” He also took this opportunity to voice another regressive SIM-binding directive from the Department of Telecommunications, which aims to bind users’ SIMs to messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, Arattai, Snapchat, ShareChat, JioChat, and Josh.
“I would call upon the government to suspend the SIM Binding directive as well and start a consultation process on this issue so that they can understand how it limits our usage of messaging apps,” he posted on X (formerly Twitter).
Addressing the SIM Binding notice, Pahwa referred to a statement from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), which stated that the DoT will not regulate OTT applications. For some context, not only streaming applications but also messaging apps are considered under Over-The-Top (OTT) services. In January 2024, DoT’s Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), PK Singh, said, “It was a conscious decision to indicate that the OTT service providers are not going to be regulated under the Indian Telecommunication Act 2023.”
Similarly, earlier in December 2023, then Minister of Communications Ashwini Vaishnaw clarified that OTT services are not governed solely by the IT Act of 2000 and are not subject to the Telecommunication Bill, 2023. Therefore, Pahwa urged the current IT Ministry, which is being headed by Vaishnaw, to “ensure that other government departments that do not have jurisdiction over the Internet do not hijack its remit.”
Addressing the limited foresight of government and DoT, especially in the recent events of Sanchar Saathi and SIM binding directives, Pahwa said, “They have already shown how little they understand how the Internet works and concerns that users have with the Sanchar…
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