Telecom Industry Faces Scrutiny Over Surveillance Proposals

India's Cellular Operators Association, the COAI, representing major telecom players like Reliance's Jio and Bharti Airtel, has proposed that precise user locations be made available only if the government mandates smartphone manufacturers to activate Assisted GPS technology, also known as A-GPS.

This proposal, revealed in a June email from the federal IT ministry, would necessitate that location services be constantly enabled on smartphones without allowing users to disable them. Major tech companies, including Apple, Samsung, and Alphabet's Google, have expressed strong opposition to this mandate, arguing it should not be enforced.

According to reports, a confidential July letter from the India Cellular & Electronics Association, which represents Apple and Google, emphasized that the A-GPS network service is not intended for location surveillance and described the government's proposal as a potential regulatory overreach.

Additionally, the Indian government recently faced public backlash over a separate mandate requiring smartphone makers to preload a state-run cyber safety app on devices, leading to the rescission of that order.

This situation highlights the ongoing tension between advancements in telecommunications technology and ethical considerations surrounding user privacy and surveillance.