The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on Monday issued an advisory to general public on July 1, 2022 on the proper use of wireless jammer and booster and repeaters. Further, the advisory stated that private sector organisations and private individuals cannot use or procure jammers in India anymore.
The advisory mentions that the use of cellular signal jammer, GPS blocker or other signal jamming device is generally illegal, except those specifically permitted by Government of India. “Private sector organizations and/ or private individuals cannot procure/ use jammers in India”, read the advisory.
“A mobile signal booster/ repeater is a kind of amplifier, apparently used to improve cell phone signal reception. However, unauthorized use of mobile phone boosters can adversely interfere with, disrupt public telecommunication services by jeopardizing the quality and coverage of such services. This, not only cause inconvenience to mobile phone users but can also hamper access to emergency call services from mobile phones, which creates a risk to public health and safety”, the guidelines mention.
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The DoT further says that the concerned TSP should be contacted in case any user is facing issues with their quality of service or any other connectivity issues. As of now, only states/ UTs, defence forces, central police organizations can procure (only models approved by Government of India) and use jammers.
Earlier this year, the DoT warned all e-commerce companies from selling or facilitating the sale of wireless jammers on their online platforms. This was done to ensure that no on-line commerce platforms were facilitating the sales of wireless jammers which the Centre did notice some platforms were doing, as these are capable of disrupting the authorised telecom and other wireless networks.