The Ministry of Home Affairs has asked the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to highlight the initiatives taken to strengthen local manufacturing facilities.

In a written correspondence to R. Chandrasekhar, secretary, DoT, R.K. Singh, secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs has said, “DoT had agreed that long-term security lies in an increased production of critical components (hardware and software) in India. To this end, DoT had agreed to formulate and implement non-security measures such as incentive regimes. It had also been agreed that DoT will ensure that adequate national test bed capabilities are created within the next two years. Please apprise us of the steps taken in this regard.?

Singh has also asked DoT to ensure that telecom operators utilise only tried and tested network elements as per relevant Indian or international security standards in their telecom networks.

Further, the licencee is expected to keep a record of all software upgrades and changes.

Prior to this, DoT had issued guidelines on May 31, 2011, by amending the licence agreements that required operators to undertake a security audit for their networks once a year from a network audit and certification agency.

Further, the licencee is expected to have an organisational policy on the security management of their networks and submit the policy to DoT within 30 days from the date of this amendment. Also, the operators are to provide location details of mobile customers in the licence service areas as per a specified timeframe and to ensure that security concerns are adequately addressed.