Deadline to implement panic button in mobile phones extended by two months

The Centre has extended the deadline by two months for mobile phone manufacturers to implement the panic button feature in new handsets. “On the request of mobile device manufacturers, we have extended the period for implementing panic button in new handsets by two months … the players had made a request saying they have unsold inventory of mobile phones without the panic button … so we have given them an extension till 28 February,” Telecom Secretary JS Deepak told PTI.

The government in April 2016 mandated that all mobile phones in the country from 1 January, 2017, will be sold with panic button feature . As per the order, pressing panic button will make a call to single emergency number 112. The order also required every phone to have GPS capabilities from 1 January, 2018, and the ability to quickly send location information. The order is applicable to both feature phones and smartphones.

The panic button can be triggered with a long press of a button, or three successive presses on a single button. The decision was announced by IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. The emergency response number 112 was selected for implementing the panic button, while retaining the existing emergency response numbers of 100 (police), 101 (fire), 102 (ambulance) and 108 (disaster management).

The decision had been welcomed by mobile manufacturers, who had said that it would be possible to implement the panic button by 2017. The demonetisation of high value currency notes has impacted sales of smartphones. Most phones sold in the country are in the low end category, and consumers invariably used to pay for the devices in cash. Micromax saw a twenty five to thirty percent drop in sales . Foxconn, which makes devices for Xiaomi, Oppo, Gionee, InFocus, Nokia, Lava, Intex, Karbonn and Micromax halted production and sent factory workers on vacation , because of a slump in sales.

“The mobile phone makers have taken up task to enable more than 2 crore phones every month with panic button very seriously. Industry is completely ready. There is minor aberration because of demonetisation which will be corrected in next 1-2 months,” industry body ICA National President Pankaj Mohindroo said.

Videocon was one of the first phone companies to implement the panic button across its entire smartphone range in India. The panic button feature has been implemented as an application, with a map view that displays nearby hospitals and police stations. Karbonn also announced an app based implementation of the panic button. Apple introduced a panic button functionality through a software update, a feature only available in India.

With inputs from PTI