New Delhi: The shrill emergency alerts that lit up millions of phones across India on Saturday are bringing attention to the ongoing legal battle to award this critical public safety net project.
German-headquartered Utimaco Technologies has alleged irregularities in the government’s selection of the Mobile Broadcasting System Implementation Agency to implement a nationwide disaster warning mechanism, according to people familiar with the matter and a copy of the company’s petition seen by Mint.
The Delhi High Court has been hearing the case since 2024, with the next hearing scheduled for 11 May 2026.
Utimaco, which owns Israeli emergency alert solutions provider Celltick, said India’s decision to award the project to the Center for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) lacked fairness and transparency. Citing the absence of an open tender process, the petition says the move violates the principle of natural justice and fair competition.
C-DOT is the research and development department of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). Mobile Broadcasting is the global standard for quickly sending alerts via mobile phones that reach large groups within 8-12 seconds. It supports text and multimedia messaging and is widely used in disasters.
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“This case has been pending since October 2024. We decided to go to court when the Department of Telecommunications asked telecommunications companies to use only C-DOT technology for mobile broadcasts,” said Ronen Daniel, head of warning solutions at Utimaco Technologies. Mint on the phone. “This is despite our technology being tested for over three years and the NDMA (National Disaster Management Authority) being satisfied with our solutions, while raising the alarm over C-DOT’s technology.”
“We are disappointed in the way DoT and C-DOT, representing the Government of India, have treated us despite our good faith during the testing phase and the demonstration to the Honorable Prime Minister; we entered into this partnership in good faith. However, we feel that we have been treated unfairly,” said Daniel.
In the petition, Utimaco said the government violated the 2017 General Financial Rules (GFR) on fair and transparent public procurement. The firm said the rules mandate public procurement, except in exceptional cases, usually through a public tender.
According to the petition, the C-DOT project was awarded based on nominations “without relevant experience or record and the same is arbitrary and illegal.”
The company urged the court to declare the government’s decision to appoint C-DOT as the sole implementing agency illegal and beyond its powers, and set aside the related order releasing Utimaco’s services and reinstate its earlier role in the project. The firm also sought a declaration that it was fully qualified to provide mobile broadcasting services under the national disaster warning system.
a “political” decision
The government countered Utimaco’s arguments in court filings dated March 21, 2025. She said the decision to select C-DOT as the sole mobile broadcast agency was a “policy decision” supported by the Department of the Interior and other government agencies.
“The decision also considered the operational risks of using multiple vendors. If each TSP (telecommunications service provider) opted for a different implementation partner, this would result in different systems needing to integrate with SACHET and Cell Broadcast Entity (CBE),” the government said in its filing. “Such fragmentation would create significant problems related to system reliability, operational simplicity and security.” He saw a copy of the submission Mint. SACHET is the national disaster warning portal.
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Regarding the alleged breach of general financial rules, the government told the court that Utimaco’s claim was incorrect because the call was made after “due process and not arbitrarily”.
The government said Utimaco never received any award or other commitment to full deployment. “The applicant’s claim for immediate award or engagement for the implementation of mobile broadcasting is speculative and lacks any documentary basis,” he said.
Queries emailed to the DoT, Ministry of Home Affairs, NDMA and C-DOT on Sunday evening did not elicit any response till press time.
What led to this case
To be sure, in 2022, telecom operators have been asked by the DoT to select an implementing agency for rolling out mobile broadcast technology, according to the company’s petition. Based on this, Reliance Jio and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) decided to conduct trials at C-DOT while Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea conducted trials at Utimaco.
NDMA’s letter dated May 27, 2024 to the Ministry of Home Affairs showed this DoT has recommended the use of two implementing agencies for the trial: C-DOT for Reliance Jio, MTNL and BSNL and Utimaco for Airtel and Vodafone ldea. He saw a copy of the letter Mint.
Later, in 2024, DoT asked telecom operators to use only one agency, C-DOT. This was despite objections from the NDMA regarding some technical issues with the C-DOT technology and a possible 12-18 month delay in the project, which was originally scheduled for November 1, 2023, according to the petition.
A government official said there are several projects that C-DOT does for the government without an open tender process. “There was a need for a domestic solution that would take into account the national security implications as well as the pricing before providing the mobile broadcasting project,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
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To this argument, Utimaco said that the national security factor “was never considered as a reason for the selection of C-DOT in the contested minutes/meetings and was first raised in the litigation as an afterthought…” It said that “based on good faith discussions and recommendations”, the firm had spent considerable time and resources to support pan-India testing.
Utimaco said it has deployed the solution for 10 governments worldwide over the past four years. It also implemented a public warning solution in Andhra Pradesh, India.
The costs approved for the C-DOT mobile broadcast project were ₹99.82 crore to be funded by the government. “We believe our price is much lower than C-DoT’s,” Daniel said, adding that the firm’s cost proposals were also approved by the interdepartmental panel in 2023.
