It?s about time that the government cleared the air over the Chinese telecom equipment manufacturers, once and for all. For over seven months, no Chinese telecom vendors have generated any business in India as they are barred from supplying telecom equipment to local telecom service providers. And this is because the government suspects spyware and malware in the Chinese equipment. Of course, India has every right to address genuine security concerns. But that is not the worrying part.
In an era of global businesses becoming local, the pertinent question is?what is the signal that the government intends to send out to the global business community? The current situation with the Chinese manufacturers, especially in the telecom equipment space, has gone on for nearly eight months. When the crisis began, the telecom department placed a 30-day window for the government to raise any objections to the orders fixed by Indian firms to Chinese suppliers, for which a mandatory security check was in place. However, in the absence of mandatory checks, no Chinese consignment has been cleared. Now the home ministry has suggested that all Chinese telecom equipment suppliers should agree to third-party verification of their plants. Also, they will have to submit their software code to the Indian government, besides giving an undertaking that their equipment does not have any malware. There is no other instance of such an elaborate security measure for any multinational firm that operates in India. This could very well be the solution to end the government ban on Chinese telecom equipment suppliers. Also, this may just be the best signal that the Indian government can give to the global business community on its seriousness to move beyond a hurdle. It?s time to move on.
Also, India is the fastest growing and second largest telecom market. Each month, the telecom service providers are adding 15-20 million subscribers, all this while keeping tariffs at the lowest levels in the world. This has been possible largely due to the low-cost Chinese equipment. After adequately safeguarding our security concerns, India should simply clear the air over the Chinese telecom suppliers as it is in our interest, if we wish to continue working towards our goal to increase teledensity and telecom connectivity.
ashish.sinha@expressindia.com