Panic button will be made compulsory for all mobile phones from Jan 1

Panic button will be mandatory for all mobile phones to be sold in India January 1, 2017, onwards to enable users make emergency call easily.

Besides, in-built GPS navigation system would be mandatory for all phones a year later with effect from January 1, 2018, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said in a statement today,

Technology is solely meant to make human life better and what better than using it for the security of women... from January 1, 2017, no cell phone can be sold without a provision for panic button and from January 1, 2018 mobile sets should have also GPS inbuilt today.

An official notification dated April 22, said,

With effect from January 1, 2017, no mobile phone handset manufactured company shall sell in India. Feature phones without the facility of panic button will proceed by pressing 'Numeric key 5' or 'Numeric key 9' to invoke emergency call.

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Further, it said that no smartphone should be sold in India without the facility of emergency call button. This button should function in a manner that 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.

With effect from January 1, 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, the notification said.

At present, only smartphones come with inbuilt GPS system. It is a device that accurately calculates geographical location by receiving information from GPS satellites. Initially it was used by the United States military, but now most receivers are in automobiles and smartphones.

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based navigation system made up of a network of a minimum of 24, but currently 30, satellites placed into orbit by the U.S. Department of Defense. Military action was the original intent for GPS, but in the 1980s, the U.S. government decided to allow the GPS program to be used by civilians