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India Considers Mandatory Always-On Satellite Location Tracking on Smartphones
India’s government reviews telecom proposal to enable permanent A-GPS tracking on all smartphones, sparking privacy concerns from Apple, Google, and Samsung.
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by Muhammad Hashir
2025-12-05
India Considers Mandatory Always-On Satellite Location Tracking on Smartphones

India’s government is reviewing a proposal from the telecom industry to require smartphone manufacturers to enable always-on satellite location tracking (A-GPS) on all devices, according to documents, emails, and sources familiar with the matter.

The proposal comes amid the government’s ongoing concern that current cellular tower-based location data does not provide sufficient accuracy during investigations. Telecom operators, including Reliance’s Jio and Bharti Airtel, have suggested that smartphone makers should be mandated to activate precise location tracking via A-GPS for legal requests, without the option for users to disable it.

Industry giants Apple, Samsung, and Google have opposed the measure, warning that it would constitute a regulatory overreach and create serious privacy, legal, and national security risks. According to a confidential July letter from the India Cellular & Electronics Association (ICEA), which represents Apple and Google, the proposal is unprecedented globally and could effectively turn smartphones into dedicated surveillance devices.

Digital forensics expert Junade Ali said that leveraging A-GPS technology in this way would allow authorities to pinpoint users’ locations to within about a meter, while Cooper Quintin of the Electronic Frontier Foundation described the proposal as “pretty horrifying.”

The plan follows a recent controversy in India, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government rescinded an order requiring a state-run cyber safety app to be preloaded on all smartphones after public backlash over potential snooping.

Currently, no policy decision has been made by India’s IT or home ministries, and a scheduled meeting of top smartphone executives was postponed. Telecom representatives argue that pop-up alerts notifying users when carriers access location data undermine investigations, while Apple and Google insist that privacy safeguards must remain intact.

India, the world’s second-largest smartphone market with 735 million devices, relies heavily on Google’s Android, which powers over 95% of smartphones. Experts warn that permanent location tracking could jeopardize the safety of sensitive users, including journalists, judges, military personnel, and corporate executives.
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