Telecom Minister A Raja said on Friday that he has met Home Minister P Chidambaram over the issue of import of telecom equipment, especially from China, and hoped the issue would be resolved "in a couple of weeks".
"We do hope the issue will be resolved with the home ministry in a couple of weeks. I (have) already met the honourable home minister," Minister of Communication and IT A Raja said.
The controversy over security concerns regarding Chinese vendors has been troubling the telecom sector over the last few months.
Security agencies have raised concerns that spying technology may be embedded in telecom equipment to intercept sensitive conversations and government documents.
Though the government denies any blanket ban on import of telecom equipment and network gears from China, various companies like Huawei and ZTE have complained that the government has not approved their deals in the past few months.
"Some issues were there. We wanted to find out some solutions how it can be amicably settled," Raja said.
In the wake of security concerns raised by the home ministry over import of telecom equipment, DoT had said it would come up with a comprehensive list of core equipment that would require mandatory security clearance before placing purchase orders by any operator.
At a meeting held early this month between the DoT and the home ministry, it was agreed that equipment imports will be allowed immediately on the basis of the undertaking given by the operators.
It was also clarified that the agreement would be mandatory for core equipment only and the list of these equipment will be finalised immediately.
