The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) plans to direct mobile operators not to disclose any subscriber-related information to equipment manufacturers whilst troubleshooting technical issues. Moreover, the DoT is expected to mandate that executives from each operator be present when engineers from manufacturing companies access their mobile networks.
Another clause in this regard may be that operators will be asked to change system passwords if the same has been shared with vendors during emergencies.
This move was suggested by the Ministry of Home Affairs, keeping in mind that the networks of operators like Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications (RCOM), Vodafone Essar, Tata Teleservices Limited and Idea Cellular are being managed either by Ericsson, Nokia Siemens or Alcatel-Lucent. Similarly, RCOM?s GSM network is being managed by Huawei, while Loop Telecom has tied up with ZTE for its pan-India GSM rollout.
The ministry is also keen that the DoT conducts surprise inspections at server locations to ensure compliance to these guidelines.
