The United States (US) trade representative?s office is reportedly concerned about security of India?s telecom infrastructure owing to its heavy reliance on imported equipment as is being envisaged by new National Telecom Policy (NTP).
Kapil Sibal, Minister of Telecommunications and IT announced in the Parliament that the US has expressed concerns over the issue of national (Indian) test standards, security testing of telecom equipment in the country.
In fact the draft of NTP for telecom sector also takes note of this phenomenon. It states that the absence of substantial manufacturing base also poses severe long term threats to India’s strategic sectors and interests as well as to cyber security, which is a cause for rising concern.
To counter such apprehensions and threats the government has proposed to build national capacity in all areas specifically security standards, security testing, interception and monitoring capabilities and manufacturing of critical telecom equipment.
