In a bid to protect women and general public from harassment or other crimes, Department of Telecommunication in India has directed all mobile phone companies that each cell phone released in the market would contain GPS technology installed in it.

“GPS to Become Mandatory in All Mobile Phones Starting 2018” – Indian Government

The directive will be applied on all phones from 1 January 2018. The government is of the view that GPS is the main tool concerning the location details and is the single technology through which the individuals facing problems anywhere in the country can be tracked.

According to a representative of DoT, “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.”

On the other hand, mobile phone manufacturers have been protesting that by doing so the cost of even the cheapest phone worth Rs. 500 to Rs. 1500 will be increased by Rs. 400, subsequently hitting the sales.