The Indian government is pressuring smartphone manufacturers to include support for its indigenous NavIC navigation system in newly released smartphones that will be marketed in the nation starting in 2019. This effort has alarmed the industry because of the higher expenses and short timeline.
The Indian Space Research Organization created the NavIC, or Navigation with Indian Constellation, a stand-alone navigation satellite system (ISRO). NavIC was first authorised in 2006 with a $174 million price tag. It was supposed to be finished by the end of 2011, but it didn’t start working until 2018.
Eight satellites make up NavIC, which covers all of India’s landmass up to 1,500 km (930 miles) from its borders.
The use of NavIC is currently restricted. It is used for monitoring and delivering information about natural catastrophes, sending emergency warning alerts to fishermen travelling into the deep sea where there is no terrestrial network access, and public vehicle tracking in India.
The next stage that India is pushing for is to enable it on smartphones.
The primary distinction between these systems is the serviceable region they cover. NavIC is currently only for usage in India and the surrounding areas, whereas GPS serves customers worldwide and orbits the planet twice daily.
Three more navigation systems, including GLONASS, owned by Russia, and Beidou, controlled by China, offer worldwide coverage in addition to GPS. Another regional navigation system serving the Asia-Oceania region with a concentration on Japan is QZSS, which is run by Japan.
According to India’s proposed 2021 satellite navigation strategy, the government would endeavour to “extend the coverage from regional to global” to ensure that the NavIC signal is available anywhere in the globe.
According to India, the purpose of NavIC was to remove reliance on foreign satellite systems for navigation service needs, especially for “strategic sectors.”
India claims that relying on systems like GPS and GLONASS, which are run by the respective countries’ armed forces and may be subject to degradation or denial, may not always be dependable.
“NavIC is a homegrown navigation system that is managed by India. The possibility of the service being discontinued or refused in a specific circumstance is nonexistent, the government declared in 2021.
India also intends to support local businesses working on NavIC-based solutions by encouraging its ministries to utilise NavIC apps.
