Telecom Lead India: Ericsson, Nokia Siemens, Alcatel
Lucent and Qualcomm have quit the TEMA, citing they were not being consulted
before framing views on key policy issues.
In a joint letter to the Telecom Equipment Manufacturers
Association (TEMA), these companies allege that TEMA is coming out with media
statements and writing letters to senior government officials on subject such
as manufacturing, green telecom for which TEMA secretariat have neither
contacted us nor have they based their statements on actual facts.
It is also surprising that the secretariat did not share
any of these communications with us before making it public,” the letter reads.
Speaking on the matter, Ashok Aggarwal, director-general,
TEMA, said that the exit by the four MNC firms will have no impact on the
industry body.
The main cause of the fall out is the proposed telecom
manufacturing policy wherein TEMA has taken a position in favor of domestic
players, Hindu Business Line reported.
TEMA’s mandate is to push for policies that encourage
domestic manufacturing and it is for individual members to decide whether they
want to associate with this vision or not,” Agarwal added.
Upon its implementation, the proposed policy will make it
obligatory for telecom companies to buy a certain percentage of their
requirements from local manufacturers. However, foreign companies are opposing
this policy on grounds that it violates WTO norms.
Furthermore, all these companies have told TEMA to remove
their logos and names from the body’s web site and all documents and papers
within 15 days.
