Telecom equipment test center cleared
01-03-2010
Patterned on China's Information Technology Certification Centre
The Central Government has cleared the 3-year-old proposal to create a national test center for all foreign telecom networks equipment before they can be sold to service providers in the country. In the Union budget presentation last week, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee allotted resources for setting up of this test centre, which will be modelled after the China Information Technology Certification Centre (CNITSEC).
After repeated demands from intelligence agencies, the Department of Telecom (DoT) in December 2009 had made it compulsory for all telecom operators to get security clearance for all networks equipment before deployment. This was a compromise solution, as the government's move to tightly regulate overseas suppliers of telecom gear, especially the Chinese, due to security concerns met with stiff opposition from Indian mobile phone firms, which feared such stringent measures would add substantially to their costs.
Security agencies wanted a ban on Chinese made gear in 20 states which share international boundaries. DoT was unable to implement this as many telcos said buying equipment from Western suppliers could make their businesses unviable. For the same reasons, DoT has been reluctantly forced to allow foreign equipment providers to manage Indian telco networks provided they are strictly monitored by security agencies.
The upcoming test lab, which will be called the Telecom Testing and Security Certification Centre, will help address concerns of the home ministry, intelligence agencies and domestic security agencies that a foreign vendor could infiltrate telecom networks through remote login facilities and Trojan horses. DoT's Telecom Engineering Centre will undertake the project.
Inputs from Economic Times
The Central Government has cleared the 3-year-old proposal to create a national test center for all foreign telecom networks equipment before they can be sold to service providers in the country. In the Union budget presentation last week, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee allotted resources for setting up of this test centre, which will be modelled after the China Information Technology Certification Centre (CNITSEC).
After repeated demands from intelligence agencies, the Department of Telecom (DoT) in December 2009 had made it compulsory for all telecom operators to get security clearance for all networks equipment before deployment. This was a compromise solution, as the government's move to tightly regulate overseas suppliers of telecom gear, especially the Chinese, due to security concerns met with stiff opposition from Indian mobile phone firms, which feared such stringent measures would add substantially to their costs.
Security agencies wanted a ban on Chinese made gear in 20 states which share international boundaries. DoT was unable to implement this as many telcos said buying equipment from Western suppliers could make their businesses unviable. For the same reasons, DoT has been reluctantly forced to allow foreign equipment providers to manage Indian telco networks provided they are strictly monitored by security agencies.
The upcoming test lab, which will be called the Telecom Testing and Security Certification Centre, will help address concerns of the home ministry, intelligence agencies and domestic security agencies that a foreign vendor could infiltrate telecom networks through remote login facilities and Trojan horses. DoT's Telecom Engineering Centre will undertake the project.
Inputs from Economic Times
