Huawei Technologies has been asked by the Indian government to provide know-how and equipment for a facility that functions as a clearing house for all imported telecom gear.
Huawei and the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, where the testing lab will be housed, will soon sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) under which the Chinese company will provide documentation, expertise, methods and standards for studying telecom equipment.
The government approached the vendor as no Indian firm manufactures telecom gear and no other foreign company was willing to assist, owing to concerns pertaining to intellectual property rights.
The lab is being built to address the concerns of intelligence and security agencies pertaining to Chinese vendors in India. According to the MoU, Huawei and the institute can visit each other’s facilities, including Huawei’s manufacturing plants and logistics centres.
The centre was given funding in the 2010-11 budget. It is being modelled after the China Information Technology Certification Centre that operates and maintains a national evaluation and certification scheme for that country’s IT and telecom security.
