According to a report, India might soon mandate tear-down or in-depth testing of handsets and the apps installed on them to ensure that these devices are not being used to snoop on the citizens.
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The move is seen as a reprisal for the continued Chinese aggression at the India-China border, to be in line with what the government has put in place for telecom equipment. The government is gathering a list of trusted sources and trusted companies for telecom equipment and networking products to check alleged cyber snooping.
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The companies in question are Vivo, Oppo, Xiaomi and OnePlus which together account for more than 50% of the Indian smartphone market, according to data from Counterpoint Research.
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According to the report, after the Indian government’s action against Chinese apps last year, Chinese smartphone brands increased local production and investments in the country as well but some of the investments promised to the government by the four Chinese companies were not fulfilled.
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The regulation is focused on keeping Chinese players such as Huawei and ZTE out of critical areas of telecom networks. The government needs to ensure that there are no security-related issues and the Chinese should not have a problem if they think that the products are clean.
