New Challenge: Feature Phone Companies Likely to Red Flag DoT Mandate

Mobile device makers are concerned over a September 17 notification issued by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) requiring all feature phones sold in the country to initially support “automatic reading” of emergency messages in Hindi, English and four other languages.

According to Counterpoint Research, India has 230 million feature phone users, most of whom rely on 2G services. However, the number of feature phone sales, which was 60 million in calendar year (CY) 2023, is expected to decline to 55 million by CY 2024. Leading players in this market include Lava, itel and Nokia.

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