Mobile phone Panic, emergency button Compulsory from 1st January, 2017 and GPS in new mobile/cell phone made compulsory from 01/01/2018

From 1^st January, 2017 panic or emergency button and from 01/01/2018 GPS in new mobile/cell phone made compulsory.

Panic button in new mobile handset
Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has issued a notification whereby with effect from 1^st January, 2017 a panic or emergency button in new mobile/cell phone has been made compulsory.

For the purpose of panic button, the mobile phones have been categorized into two segments as under:

(a) Feature phone
A feature phone has been defined as a mobile phone handset that incorporates features such as the ability to access internet and store and play music but lacks the operating system feature of a personal computer.

(b) Smart phone
A smart phone has been defined as a mobile phone handset with an advanced mobile operating system, which combines features of a personal computer operating system with other features useful for mobile or hand held use.

It has been provided that with effect from the 1st January, 2017, no mobile phone handset manufactured company shall sell in India,-

(a) the Feature phones without the facility of panic button by pressing “Numeric key–5” or “Numeric key–9” to invoke emergency call; and

(b) the Smart phones without the facility of emergency call button by pressing the same for long time to invoke emergency call or the use of existing power on or off button, when short pressed thrice in quick succession.

Note: According to Wikipedia, here is no standard way of distinguishing Smartphone and feature phone and they are are not mutually exclusive categories. Wikipedia has however listed Nokia Asha 501 as a touchscreen feature phone.

GPS in new mobile hand set

It has been provided that with effect from the 1st January, 2018, no mobile phone handset manufactured company shall sell the new mobile phone hand set in India without the facility of identifying the location through Satellite based GPS.

“GPS” has been defined as the Global Positioning System which contains a satellite-based navigation system that provides location and the time information in all weather conditions, anywhere on or near the earth where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more Global Positioning System satellites.