Ban on Chinese, Israeli telecom gear a hoax: Vendors

The controversy with respect to import of telecom equipment into India is getting murkier by the day. After accusations and allegations against Chinese telecom equipment manufacturers flew back and forth between the Indian government and leading Chinese vendors, theDoTis looking at proposing a temporary ban on twenty-six Chinese and Israeli companies, until such time as new security guidelines for vendors are in place (according to recent reports).

However, the twist is that telecom vendors and experts are totally refuting any reports of a proposed ban on imports, saying that there are merely any issues with the Indian security guidelines that need to be cleared.

According to Satyen Gupta, president,ACTO,“The government has to draw up simplified consolidated guidelines for all vendors in consultation with SPs. Since these guidelines change on a monthly basis, there is now a lot of confusion, as the new norms have not yet been finalized. Another problem is that though it is mandatory for all vendors to provide self certification-which is then presented to the operators, who give an undertaking certificate and then send the same to the DoT for final verification-there are still some vendors who do not want to go in for self certification. However, I don't think that there is any issue specifically with only Chinese or Israeli manufacturers.”

Citing inability to clear required security norms for import of telecom equipment into the country, DoT till date has only cleared twenty-seven out of the total 477 equipment purchase proposals that were submitted by telecom service providers.

This is severely affecting the roll out of 3G services by SPs, even at a time when four companies have successfully been allotted BWA spectrum. Another issue that has also cropped up is the fact that western vendors',like Ericsson and NSN, equipment proposals have been cleared, giving way to suspicion on of a Chinese; and now Israeli bias.

AUSPI has till date also sent out two letters toTrai and DoT, asking for a final drawing up of security norms, so that no time is wasted in deploying new technology by operators.

When asked to provide some clarity on the proposed ban of Chinese telecom gear, A Sethu Raman, executive director, product & solution, Huaweisays, “We have received no such intimation of a ban or any communication regarding self certification from operators. As a highly transparent company providing innovative technology solutions in 130 countries worldwide, we realize the importance of national security, and are ready to do whatever is needed to comply with local requirements and open to inspection for the same as well. As far as my knowledge, any news of a proposed ban is just unconfirmed speculation being cooked up by the media.”

ZTE who has been in the news right from the early days of the security import issues, feels that the same set of guidelines should apply to all countries. Remarks Steven Cui, CTO, ZTE, “Understanding the Indian government's concern on this issue, we will do all that is necessary to put to rest any apprehensions. From our end, we are taking adequate measures to ensure internal security checks and self certification, but feel that the government should come out with the same set of guidelines for all countries.”

TTSL and RCom, among the service providers, have strongly voiced there disconcert over this delay in security norms, with RCom protesting against the preferential treatment being doled out to western vendors, while TTSL in earlier statements said that 3G deployment should not go ahead until new security guidelines for import of telecom equipment are in place.

The list of twenty-six companies drawn up by the Intelligence Bureau (IB), for which the DoT is allegedly planning a proposed temporary ban on import of equipment includes Lenovo, Huawei Technologies, ZTE, Sunsea Telecoms, UT Starcom, Tongyu Communications, Wuhan Fibrehome International, Shenzhen Grentech, Maipu Communications, and Israeli telecom gear maker, Comverse.

berylm@cybermedia.co.in