The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has made it mandatory for all new mobile handsets manufactured or imported for sale in India to come pre-installed with the Sanchar Saathi app. The directive was issued to all original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and importers on Monday.
What is Sanchar Saathi?
- Launched in May 2023, the portal allows users to report and block lost mobile phones and malicious web links.
- It helps in knowing the number of mobile connections in a user’s name and checking the trusted contact details of banks and financial institutions.
- A DoT official said that the app will make it easier to report fraud. “Right now, the reporting time changes because users have to go to the website to report fraud or stolen mobile phones,” the official said.
- On reporting fraud through the app, the official said that the portal is “quite advanced” and users do not need to remember their IMEI number.
- The app also provides other services like checking mobile connections given in the user’s name, checking if the handset is genuine and reporting suspicious communication or spam.
- This app helps users report international calls from Indian numbers. It does not require OTP verification on the phone.
- According to the Sanchar Saathi website, under this initiative, over 42.14 lakh mobiles have been blocked and over 26.11 lakh lost or stolen mobile handsets have been traced.
- Over 288 lakh requests have been received from individuals seeking information about mobile connections registered in their name. Out of these, over 254 lakh requests have been resolved.
- The app has over 1.14 crore registrations, over 1 crore downloads from Google Playstore and over 9.5 lakh downloads from Apple Store.