Uttar Pradesh was all set to start off the trail of ‘Panic Button’ for all mobile phone users across the state by January, this year. However, the programme hasn’t taken off, due to the absence of ‘Panic Button’ in feature phones in the State. ‘Panic Button’ is a feature which helps women in distress, with the help of GPS facility in the phones. Cell triangulation becomes possible with the help of GPS feature and can deliver information as accurate as 50 meters. However, UP has got a huge number of mobile phone users, who have got feature phones with them. The absence of GPS facility in feature phones has stopped the programme from being materialized.
The Department of Telecom has reportedly advised about the pitfalls ahead of the ‘Panic Button’ feature. Enabling GPS location in feature phones raises tremendous technological challenges before phone manufacturers.
