New Delhi, Dec. 2 -- The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has mandated the pre-installation of the Sanchar Saathi application in all mobile handsets manufactured or imported in India, a press release from the Ministry of Communication said.

The DoT has issued directions to ensure that the pre-installed Sanchar Saathi application is readily visible and accessible to the end users at the time of first use or device setup and that its functionalities are not disabled or restricted. For devices that have already been manufactured and are currently in sales channels across the country, manufacturers and importers have been asked to make efforts to push the application via software updates.

According to the ministry, the directions issu...