India considering ban on Chinese network infrastructure products
By Dusan Belic on Friday, September 11th, 2009 at 2:11 AM PST In General
The Indian government is considering a ban on telecoms equipment from Chinese suppliers, including Huawei and ZTE. The Department of Telecom (DoT) has proposed to impose the ban in 20 of the country’s 22 circles, which are apparently sensitive due to their proximity to international borders — although this may be later reduced to 14 circles. Security concerns are said to be a reason behind the move.
Not surprisingly, the network operators have strong objections to the proposed ban, as they would be forced to use more expensive equipment from the likes of Ericsson, Motorola (NYSE: MOT) and Nokia (NYSE: NOK) Siemens Networks.
The DoT is in the midst of consulting with the Ministry of Home Affairs before taking the next steps in imposing any restrictions.
There’s also an alternative proposal, which would require all network suppliers to get a security clearance from the Ministry of Home Affairs every two years.
Earlier this year, BSNL reportedly dropped China’s Huawei from a short list of suppliers in the regions closest to Pakistan, possibly because intelligence officials were unhappy with the vendor’s entry in the sensitive area…
[Via: CellularNews]
