NEW DELHI, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- India's federal government Wednesday withdrew its order directing all smartphone manufacturers (original equipment manufacturers or OEMs) and importers to pre-install the state-owned cybersecurity app Sanchar Saathi on devices intended for sale in India.
The withdrawal came amid outcry from the opposition politicians, privacy advocates and global tech companies fearing surveillance.
Under the earlier directive conveyed privately to the OEMs like Apple, the implementation was mandatory to be completed within 90 days, and a compliance report should be filed within 120 days.
For phones already manufactured and available in India's sales channels, manufacturers and importers were required to push the app through software updates as per the earlier order.
The federal ministry of communications Wednesday stated that 14 million users have downloaded the app, contributing information on around 2,000 fraud incidents daily. ■