Feature phones cost may rise 30% as DoT insists on GPS for women safety

In a significant step toward 'women safety', the telecom department has said all feature phones should have global positioning system (GPS) that would enable to track them from January 1, 2018.

Rejecting a plea from the handset makers that adding the facility to feature phones would raise the cost by at least 30 percent, the department of telecom (DoT) said  ensuring safety and security of women was of 'utmost importance' and made it clear that no further "representations" from the industry would be "entertained" in the matter, reported The Economic Times. 

On July 4, 2017, DoT in a letter to handset makers body Indian Cellular Association said, "Regarding GPS facility in feature phone, DoT had stated that GPS is the main tool regarding location details of the subscriber in case of emergency, so government has decided to implement in all mobile phone handsets from January 1, 2018, in a positive manner."

"Regarding GPS facility in feature phone, DoT had stated that GPS is the main tool regarding location details of the subscriber in case of emergency, so government has decided to implement in all mobile phone handsets from January 1, 2018, in a positive manner," DoT said in a letter dated July 4 to Indian Cellular Association, which represents most handset makers in the country.

"It is re-iterated that all mobile phone handset makers should adhere to the 2nd part of the notification dated April 22, 2016 for implementation of GPS facility in all mobile phone handsets sold in India from January 1 2018. The representation in this regards will not be entertained in the future," the department added.

The government had asked handset makers for installation of a panic button and GPS location facilities from January 1, 2017 and January 1, 2018, respectively in order to ensure safety of women round-the-clock if they face some unfavourable situation at any place.

From March this year, all handset makers complied with panic button need and adjusted its cost in with the price of devices.

However, handset manufacturers informed the government that introduction of the location service in feature phones would push up cost by as much as Rs 400, hurting sales.

The introduction of GPS in feature phones would raise the cost of handsets by at least 30 percent. These phones are mostly priced between Rs 500 and Rs 1,500.

As per Counterpoint Research, India has a user base of more than 400 million feature phones. In March this year, the mobile phone industry had written to telecom regulator Trai, asking it to tell the DoT to drop a clause mandating GPS implementation on all mobile phones by January 1, 2018.