Urging the Government to include mobile devices under the essential services category, handset firms on Thursday said many frontline workers, patients and other vulnerable groups are facing a tough time during the coronavirus lockdown due to non-availability of the devices.
The India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA), whose members include firms like Apple, Foxconn, Wistron, Flextronics, Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo and Lava, said mobile phones are at the heart of the digital ecosystem and their non-availability can be life threatening.
“Senior citizens and those with underlying health conditions are most susceptible to Covid-19. In such cases, the fatality rate is upwards of 10 per cent. The disease is such that all times, the patients need to fend for themselves from the time they communicate with municipal authorities regarding symptoms to testing and treatment,” ICEA Chairman Pankaj Mohindroo said in a letter to IT Secretary Ajay Prakash Sawhney.
ICEA said this can be a life-threatening situation and more than 10 crore senior citizens at the bottom of the pyramid do not have access to even feature phones and are being denied access.
