Overview
- Apple, Google and Samsung have opposed the mandate through industry channels, with ICEA calling it unprecedented and a regulatory overreach in a confidential July letter.
- The proposal would keep A-GPS permanently active on all smartphones, remove any user option to disable location services and suppress pop-up alerts when carriers access location.
- India’s IT and Home ministries are analysing the plan, no policy decision has been made, and a scheduled meeting with smartphone executives was postponed.
- Security researchers say continuous A-GPS would effectively turn phones into dedicated surveillance devices and could pinpoint users to within about a meter.
- The review follows the government’s withdrawal of a separate order to preload the Sanchar Saathi app on new phones, which had triggered a national privacy outcry.