The network of the private operators like Airtel etc is installed, maintained and operated by foreign telecom equipment vendors like Nokia, Ericsson,Motorola,Huwei etc. This handing over of the networks to foreign companies seriously compromised the national security and the Home Ministry repeatedly raised several issues in this regard, including the possibility of embedded spyware and malware in the imported equipment.
The Government of India issued guidelines in 2010 stipulating that the foreign equipment suppliers should transfer their technology to Indian manufacturers within three years, they should appoint only Indians while installing, maintaining and operating the networks for the telecom services companies and they should deposit their software source codes in an escrow account with an independent and trusted third party. But these prescriptions were strongly opposed by the US Government and the American and European telecom equipment manufacturers (The Chinese equipment providers did not oppose these provisions and agreed to deposit their source code in the escrow account).
Calling India’s new telecom security approval process “inflexible and unworkable”, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) disclosed in its annual compliance report that the Indian government “suspended implementation of several of these conditions” after the US conveyed the concerns of its companies. “The issue came to a head during US President Barrack Obama’s visit. It was said then that a committee of experts would look into these concerns”. Finally the DoT was compelled to issue revised guidelines on 31-5-2011. As per these revised guidelines, the foreign suppliers need not transfer their technology, need not deposit their source code in escrow account, and need not man the top level posts in the telecom network maintenance with Indians except a few posts like Chief Technology Officer etc. The telecom service companies have to get their net work audited from the security point of view by a certified agency, call data of customers must be made available along with the tracking of their location etc are the revised guidelines.
According to the estimates, the technical up gradation for acquiring these capabilities will cost Rs 5000 crore to 5800 crore per operator. The telecom services operators are demanding the Government to share the burden. Thus the burden of security of the telecom network is being shifted from foreign equipment vendors to telecom services companies which in turn are trying to shift that to the government exchequer. The telecom operators are also demanding that they have to be allowed to get the certification on national security for their imported equipment from the test labs in other countries. They also requested for relaxation in the accuracy of the location of the subscriber while making the call.
As per the report in The Hindu Business Line dated 10/11/2011, the DoT refused to agree with this demand of the telecom operators. It held that the location based service is a part of the commercial use and security and hence DoT need not compensate for the expenditure incurred on upgrading technology for location based services.
But it seems that while for the present Government is not agreeing to this demand of thee operators, in future it may agree. As per the draft of the National Telecom Policy 2011 released by the MoC Sri Kapil Sibal, a rational criterion has to be evolved for sharing of the costs beyond a threshold limit between Government and the service providers in implementing security measures.
The private telecom operators are not interested in the national security aspect in operating the telecom services. It is not their concern. It is only the concern of the Government. Hence Government must compensate them for the expenditure incurred for technological up gradation of their network for ensuring national security!
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