As per industry sources, India is likely to restrict China based telecom vendors such as Huawei from providing telecom equipment to Indian mobile carriers under the new procurement rules.
Analysts have highlighted that the Indian government is wary about awarding new technology business to Chinese firms both because of security concerns and also to provide a boost to Indian telecom equipment manufacturers.
Recently, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) amended the telecom licences to make it mandatory for telecom operators to use equipment only from trusted sources from June 15, 2021.
On a related note, telcos and network vendors are soon likely to seek clarification from National Cyber Security Coordinator (NCSC) on whether all equipment from Chinese suppliers Huawei and ZTE, without exception, will fall outside the list of trusted products.
NCSC is the new designated authority that oversees telecom equipment procurements. The authority will notify the categories of equipment for which the security requirements related to trusted sources are applicable. The authority will also notify a list of vendors from whom telcos can procure equipment and those that have not made the cut.
