Indian information agencies are investigating nan suspected usage of a Huawei satellite-enabled smartphone adjacent Pahalgam astatine nan clip of past week's panic onslaught that killed 26 people. The activity of specified a instrumentality was reportedly detected successful nan area and during nan aforesaid play arsenic nan attack, raising concerns complete nan preamble of newer connection methods by operatives successful Jammu and Kashmir.
According to an Economic Times report, a lone activity of a Huawei outer telephone was picked up by surveillance systems, and its imaginable relationship to nan onslaught is now being examined.
A banned company, a unafraid network, a vulnerable gap?
Huawei, a Chinese institution banned from operating successful India, manufactures respective smartphones pinch built-in outer connection features, including nan Mate 60 Pro, P60 series, and nova 11 Ultra. These devices are designed to link exclusively to China’s Tiantong-1 outer network, managed by China Telecom.
These phones characteristic soul outer antennas and specialized chips, allowing them to link without outer equipment. Services require China Telecom SIM cards and subscription plans. Designed for emergency use, nan phones connection low-bandwidth sound and matter services, operating moreover successful areas pinch nary cellular coverage.
Huawei, however, does not nutrient handsets for different outer work providers specified arsenic Thuraya, Iridium, aliases Inmarsat, which typically trust connected their ain specialized hardware aliases collaborate pinch manufacturers specified arsenic nan Hughes Network Systems.
It is suspected nan Huawei instrumentality whitethorn person been smuggled into India either from Pakistan aliases different country.
How Huawei phones flight detection
Unlike nan accepted Thuraya outer phones antecedently recovered pinch militants — which are bulky, rugged devices pinch visible antennas and basal call-and-text functionality — Huawei’s satellite-enabled smartphones for illustration nan Mate 60 Pro are indistinguishable from mean smartphones. They merge outer texting, calling, net access, and media transmission into a regular smartphone design, making ocular recognition highly difficult.
Thuraya phones could beryllium easy spotted because of their outer antennas and rugged build, whereas Huawei’s devices let covert connection while blending seamlessly into civilian environments.
Technologists person noted that communications done Huawei’s satellite-enabled phones could perchance bypass Indian cellular and outer surveillance systems, arsenic they run done China’s Tiantong-1 outer infrastructure. This raise concerns that specified devices mightiness let users to support connection during web shutdowns, transmit operational accusation without contiguous detection, and summation nan consequence of delicate information being exposed to overseas monitoring.
The investigation is now reportedly focused connected tracing nan origin, movement, and imaginable handlers of nan instrumentality detected during nan Pahalgam attack. Forensic teams, supported by Western agencies, are examining method intercepts, eyewitness accounts, and section networks to find whether nan satellite-enabled telephone was utilized by nan attackers aliases their support cells.
Experts person besides highlighted a broader concern: beyond Huawei, different Chinese brands for illustration Honor, Xiaomi, OPPO, and Vivo are introducing smartphones equipped pinch akin outer connection features, each designed to run connected nan Tiantong-1 network. This increasing inclination could airs semipermanent challenges for India’s counterterrorism operations.
The Pahalgam investigation, they believe, could beryllium an early parameter of really emerging satellite-based connection technologies are reshaping insurgent strategies and presenting caller threats successful conflict zones.