Security agencies express concern over Chinese equipment used by Airtel
09 Aug 2012
India's security agencies have expressed concern over Chinese telecom equipment provider ZTE managing Bharti Airtel's 4G network, minister of state for communications and IT Milind Deora said yesterday.
"A reference has been received from a security agency expressing that Bharti Airtel, while rolling out the 4G services, was using Time Division-Long Term Evolution (TD-LTE) technology, which has been developed by ZTE, a Chinese company," Deora said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.
Deora added that the security agency had given no suggestion but had inquired about the training given by ZTE to local personnel to handle the 4G network.
The Indian government has mandated that licensees shall induct only those network elements into their telecom network, which had been tested as per relevant contemporary Indian or international security standards from any international agency of those standards until 31 March 2013.
From 1 April 2013, the certification should be done only from authorised and certified agencies in India.
Further, as per licence condition, the licensee shall employ only resident, trained Indian nationals in key positions, including that of chief technical officers, chief information security officer as also nodal executives for handling interception and monitoring cases.
