Indian PMO asks DoT to review security norms

Indian Prime Minister's office has asked communications and home ministries to review the new security standards that are being labelled 'too tough' by foreign telecommunication gear makers, reports the Economic Times. Western vendors and business lobbies in the US, Europe and Japan are pressuring India to overturn the new rules that make it necessary for foreign equipment companies to put their software in the equivalent of a sealed envelop to be opened by Indian authorities only in a security threat. Both ministries have two months to decide on whether a revised code of standards that is more aligned to procedures being followed globally is needed. The Department of Telecommunication was requested to examine, in consultation with the ministry of home affairs, in light of international best practice. Some alternative mechanism in resolution to these issues needs to be put in place, which may kindly be concluded within a period of two months, a PMO communication dated 6 August read. So far, only Chinese telecommunication gear vendors have offered to comply with India's new norms unveiled in July-end hoping to bridge a trust deficit that has plagued their operations in the country and finally partake of a USD 100-billion market opportunity. But Western vendors had raised strong objections and American business lobbies had enlisted the intervention of top figures in the Obama administration, including US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, to challenge the new rules. Some twenty trade groups from the US and Europe had written identical letters to home minister P Chidambaram, telecommunication minister A Raja, commerce minister Anand Sharma and the PMO complaining that the new security norms were not consistent with global practices and that they had not been consulted during their formulation. Even Indian industry body FICCI had asked the PMO to defer implementing the clause in the new rules that required sharing the source code. In the two-month interim period, the PMO has asked telecommunication ministry to allow mobile phone companies and vendors to follow either the recently introduced norms or the security guidelines issued last year. The rules issued last year do not mandate vendors to share their source codes in an escrow account in India. Instead, it allows mobile phone companies to import networks and other related equipment after giving a self-certification of security compliance. But several industry executives and even some mobile phone companies pointed out that the government had not cleared any imports from Chinese vendors under the old norms. Since February, about 450 orders worth over USD 2 billion placed by Indian mobile phone operators with these 26 companies had not been cleared. It is also leant that mobile phone companies here such as Reliance Communications and Tatas fear that going back to the old norms will delay their expansion and rollout, especially that of 3G services, as equipment from Chinese vendors may not be cleared.