PMO clears decks for import of telecom gear

The prime minister's office (PMO) has intervened to clear the decks for import of telecom equipment, especially from China.

The PMO has directed the telecom ministry that both the earlier security vetting regime as well as the new agreement, based on stricter restrictions, should be operated concurrently, with telecom operators being free to adopt either.

With this direction, the department of telecommunications (DoT) will clear requests on import of equipment by leading operators, which have been stuck for over eight months and were jeopardising the launch of 3G services.

Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices were among those who had asked for permission to import equipment from China. Clearances for other equipment from European vendors are also being given, based on the older agreement.

The DoT decision in December last year to allow import of telecom equipment after self-certification by the telecom operators was questioned by intelligence agencies. Later the decision was reviewed and new strictures were added in July this year.

The new draft code required a policy agreement between operators and vendors which included sharing of the source code and design of the equipment in an escrow account. But this draft policy was attacked by European manufacturers, who said they can't share source code as it was their intellectual property right.