Telecom Lead India: The Indian government is set to
establish testing labs in the country to certify all imported telecom
equipment. This will be a big relief to both Huawei and ZTE.
The move will allow the government to address the
security concerns posed by imported equipment.
Telecom equipment makers such as Huawei and ZTE have been
facing ire of various governments around the globe on the security issues.
Around 80-90 percent of telecom equipment is
imported and it raises security concerns of any
possible spyware and malware attacks.
At present, testing is done outside the country as India
lacks testing facilities. “The government has mandated that by 2013,
testing labs will be set up within India,” said J K Roy, Telecom
Commission Member (Technology).
The government had made testing and certification of software and hardware of
all foreign telecom companies mandatory.
Roy added that the government is thinking of various
steps. The Center is also mulling a new set up including legal provisions to
enable law enforcement agencies to seek real-time information of
telecommunication exchanges.
The Department of Telecom has proposed a new
set of security guidelines for the sector which advocates creating a conducive
environment for law enforcement agencies and allowing them to access real-time
information of exchange of messages, data and calls made by users as well track
their location in the case of need.
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