Indian Army uses ‘Sambhav’ smartphones for border talks with China for secure communication
by KalingaTV Bureau · KalingaTVThe Indian Army has improved the security of its officials by equipping them with secure communication devices. As many as 30,000 Sambhav phones have been given to officers for secure communication, reported news agency ANI.
The Indian Army used the Sambhav smartphones during the last round of talks held with China in October 2024. Army chief Gen Upendra Dwivedi in his annual press conference confirmed that the Sambhav phone was used for secure communication.
The project was launched last year.
What are ‘Sambhav’ smartphones?
The SAMBHAV (Secure Army Mobile Bharat Version) smartphones function on contemporary 5G technology and are fully encrypted.
These encrypted phones are around 30,000 in number and they have been given to officers for secure communication. The devices are equipped with their own applications which can be used for sharing critical information.
The handsets used for the project have applications like M-Sigma which is seen as an equivalent of the popular WhatsApp application for messaging and sharing documents, pictures and videos.
The Army is also hoping that the internal smartphones which can be used on Airtel and Jio mobile networks will help in curbing the leakage of important documents in public.
A number of Indian Army officials had been using WhatsApp and similar applications for sharing information and documents and majority of them were affected by leaks.
The Indian Army has indigenously developed the “end-to-end secure mobile ecosystem” to provide secure communication with instant connectivity. The devices also have the numbers of all important functionaries and the officials don’t need to save the numbers, mentioned the agency.
(with inputs from ANI)