Last Updated: September 27, 2022, 18:57 IST
India wants NavIC to become its de-facto GPS system
NavIC is the local navigation system developed by ISRO and the country’s government wants to make it the default system for smartphones in India.
The Indian Government wants smartphone brands like Xiaomi, Apple and Samsung to make their phones compatible with the Navigation with Indian Constellation of NavIC which is India’s homegrown navigation system rivalling the Global Positioning System or GPS in the market.
The news about phones requiring NavIC support has been quoted through multiple sources in a Reuters report this week. Brands making such drastic changes could push the price of the phone, which has already gone up in the past few years.
The report mentions that the Government wants to move away from GPS which is a US-based technology. As a part of its self-reliance mission, NavIC is supposedly going to be better for navigation in India, as it originates from the country, it adds.
It also goes on to say the Government proposal includes the mandatory addition of NavIC in the hardware setup, even though GPS will also be available. Such changes will force phone makers to completely revamp their design and production plans. This sentiment has been reportedly shared by Samsung and Xiaomi who held private meetings with the Ministry in the past month or so.
The deadline of January 1 seems rather short for such changes, and the report mentions that phone brands have sought time till 2025 for such implementations to come into effect on the hardware side.
Adding a new navigation system will not only impact the phone makers but the chipset manufacturers as well. Neither of the companies nor ISRO commented on this story, but the developments suggest the Indian government wants to take NavIC further into the tech ecosystem in India.
Xiaomi has a few phones that claim to be compatible with NavIC but changing the navigation dynamics of the industry in such a short time might not be feasible for the parties involved. The Ministry has refuted the claims made by Reuters in its report and says it has no plans to bring NavIC to phones anytime soon.
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