New Delhi, Dec 1 (AHN) To safeguard the citizens from buying non-genuine items, the Centre on Monday said that it asked mobile phone manufacturers and importers to ensure that the 'Sanchar Saathi' mobile application is pre-installed on all new mobile handsets manufactured or imported for use in India.

This will enable easy reporting of suspected misuse of telecom resources and increase the effectiveness of the 'Sanchar Saathi' initiative.

As per the guidelines, issued on November 28, mobile manufacturers and importers have to ensure that the pre-installed Sanchar Saathi application is readily visible and accessible to the end users at the time of first use or device setup and that its functionalities are not disabled or restricted.

Additionally, all such devices that have already been manufactured and are in sales channels in India, the manufacturer and importers of mobile handsets shall endeavour to push the app through software updates.

The companies have to complete the implementation in 90 days and submit a report in 120 days.

DoT is undertaking the Sanchar Saathi initiative for curbing the misuse of telecom resources for cyber fraud and ensuring telecom cybersecurity.

The department has developed the Sanchar Saathi portal and app, which enables citizens to check the genuineness of a mobile handset through the IMEI number, along with other facilities like reporting suspected fraudulent communications, lost or stolen mobile handsets, checking mobile connections in their name, and trusted contact details of banks and financial institutions.

In a separate statement, the DoT said that it has observed that some of the app-based communication services that are utilising Indian mobile numbers for identification of their customers or users or for provisioning or delivery of services, allow users to consume their services without the availability of the underlying Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) within the device in which the app-based services are running.

This feature is being misused to commit cyber-frauds, especially from operating outside the country.

The issue of SIM binding in messaging apps and its misuse has been raised by multiple government bodies/agencies and an inter-ministerial group.

On this issue, DOT had multiple discussions with major app-based communication services providers on the feasibility and importance. These include WhatsApp, Telegram, Snapchat, Arattai, Sharechat, Josh, Jiochat, and Signal.

"Thereafter, given the seriousness of the issue, DoT issued Directions to major App-Based Communication Services on Nov 28 under the Telecom Cyber Security (TCS) Rules, 2024 (as amended) to prevent the misuse of telecommunication identifiers and to safeguard the integrity and security of the telecom ecosystem," it noted.

"Department of Telecommunication (DoT) has issued directions on November 28 in this regard," DoT said in a statement.