Raja hopes for early resolution to Chinese telecom equipment row

Telecom Minister A Raja today said that he had met home minister P Chidambaram and discussed with him the issue of import of telecom equipment, especially from China, and hoped the issue would be resolved "in a couple of weeks".

"We do hope the issue will be resolved with the home ministry in a couple of weeks. I (have) already met the honourable home minister," minister of communication and IT A Raja told reporters in New Delhi on the sidelines of a DOEACC event today.

Over the last couple of months, the security issue regarding the Chinese vendors has negatively impacted the telecom sector.

According to security agencies, Chinese equipment may have embedded within it spying technology to allow interception of sensitive conversation and government documents.

Though the government maintains that there is no blanket ban on import of telecom equipment and network gear from China, a number of companies including Huawei and ZTE have complained that their deals have not been approved by the government over the past few months.

"Some of the issues were there. We wanted to find out some solutions how it can be amicably settled," Raja said.