DoT asks all Licensees to Register on Trusted Telecom Portal

This week, the DoT asked all the licensees who have failed to register on the Trusted Telecom Portal, to do so as soon as possible.

DoT Requests All Licensees to Join the Trusted Telecom Portal

In a letter sent to all the telecom license holders, the DoT has requested to join the portal and submit the authorization letter notifying the appointment of a nodal officer for the same. Also, the telecom department has asked the licensees the submit the said letter to the Designated Authority, that is, the National Cyber Security Coordinator.

Since last December, the National Cyber Security Coordinator (NCSC), Lt Gen (Retd.) Rajesh Pant has been compiling a list of these trusted sources and products for telecom. NCSC also holds to power to designate a specific product or source as trusted. The Cyber Wing of the National Security Council Secretariat will maintain the portal. The NSCS will also mandate telecom service providers to use the equipment through trusted or authentic sources only.

In April this year, the government unveiled the beta version of the portal for TSPs and OEMs. The government aimed to collect sample data to better classify products as trusted products. The portal acts as a certifying window and gear suppliers can track the approval progress of their applications.

Earlier this year, the NCSC launched a portal for gear makers and telcos to apply for “Trusted Sources” status. The companies had to appoint a nodal officer to interact with the NCSC portal and the government. In November, Ericsson, Nokia, Tejas Networks, and Cisco became the first gear makers to get the “Trusted Source” status.

Back in November, sources had reported that the NCSC will finish the list by mid-December at the latest. Since the NCSC has not approved any products as a “trusted product”, the telcos still can’t buy anything. As such, they have raised concerns previously about delays in network deployment. However, the NCSC gave them a one-time exception for critical deployment. Vodafone Idea, Reliance Jio, and Bharti Airtel recently took that exception.