Security nod for telecom equipment mandatory: DoT

The government has directed telecom players, both public and private, to get security clearance for procuring telecom equipment/software from foreign vendors.

The directive by the department of telecommunication has also made it mandatory for equipment vendors to transfer technology to Indian manufacturers within three years of selling machines to any operator.

"The service provider shall mandatorily include a clause in their purchase order to foreign manufacturer(s) for transfer of technology of all critical components and software to Indian manufacturers within a period of three years from the date of purchase order," it said.

Earlier only Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited had to get clearance, while private operators were doing their own due diligence while ordering equipment from the vendors for expanding network or rolling out services.

Operators will now have to wait for 30 days to get clearance before purchasing equipment.

With the number of entrants increasing in the Indian mobile market, the move is meant to address concerns raised by security agencies that telecom equipment may carry spyware enabling other countries to snoop into Indian networks.

However, the equipment and softwares manufactured by Indian companies are exempted from such a necessity.

Considering that all major equipment vendors are foreign firms such as Nokia Siemens, Motorola, Ericsson, Huawei, ZTE and Alcatel Lucent, the exemption is a not big relief. All passive infrastructure equipment manufacturers also exempted from security clearance.

The equipment vendors must transfer technology to Indian manufacturers as it is one of the effective measures to reduce vulnerability in the long run. In case of non-compliance, both vendor and the service provider would be penalised.

"Criminal proceedings would also be started in this case," it said.

Although the move is aimed at providing the know-how to local manufacturing companies, some of the foreign vendors when spoken to, said to start a world class equipment company it is not just technology it also requires huge funds to start and scale up a equipment facility which probably at the moment is not with the Indian domestic companies.

The key directive is that service providers must ensure that their networks are entirely operated and maintained by Indian engineers, with minimal or nil dependence on foreign engineers.