India Lifts Embargo On Telecom Gear Import From China (22-Aug-2010)
In a move apparently aimed at addressing Chinese concerns on India’s telecom equipment policy and also helping Indian telecom operators to roll out the coveted third generation (3G) and wireless broadband (WiMax) services rapidly, the government is understood to have allowed the import of telecom equipment from Chinese vendors.
The department of telecommunications (DoT) has approved imports of Chinese telecom equipment by Indian mobile operators Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices, bringing to an end a period of eight months in which none of India’s 15 mobile operators could import foreign equipment even as the industry was getting ready to offer next-generation services.
Chinese telecom equipment majors Huawei and ZTE had earlier agreed in-principle to give Indian security agencies access to their network source codes. This is one of the primary conditions for importing telecom equipment into the country as per the latest telecom security policy prepared by the DoT in association with the home ministry and security agencies. The demand however had raised outrage among western vendors, who complained it was violation of their intellectual property.
In a related move, the government has also allowed the BSNL to procure equipment from Chinese vendors. 'In the interest of national security, the government had directed BSNL in May, 2009 that resources should not be procured from the Chinese vendors for deployment in the sensitive regions (especially border states)…New guidelines have now been issued in consultation with the Ministry of Home Affairs to address security concerns…accordingly, now BSNL may enter into agreement with foreign vendors for purchase of equipments/ software/ services,' Minister of State for Telecom and IT, Sachin Pilot said last week in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.
The government had earlier, informally barred the local mobile phone operators from placing orders with Huawei and ZTE on security concerns, resulting from the suspicion of security agencies that the Chinese equipment might have spying technology embedded in it to intercept sensitive conversations in times of a conflict between the two countries. However, the government has now made it clear that a comprehensive telecom gear policy has been put in place and all imports will have to qualify according to the new policy.
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