Security agencies still concerned over Chinese telecom firms

The two Chinese telecom firms wanting to do business in India are still under the scrutiny of the security agencies which will take a final call only after they get additional information sought from them.

A high-level meeting chaired by Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar was recently held to discuss “in totality” the issues related to Chinese companies doing business in India in which recent hacking attempts from China were also deliberated upon, according to official sources. Some Chinese companies have raised security concerns in India. The security agencies expressed reservations on allowing the Chinese companies in telecom and information technology citing the incidents of Chinese hackers targeting sensitive data on government web sites, they said.

Union Home Secretary G K Pillai will be chairing another meeting soon to have a thread-bare discussion on the issue.

A controversy had even broken over Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh’s remark against the home ministry over its decision regarding the two Chinese telecom companies.

Tatas seek DoT guidance 
Amid a raging controversy over the ban on Chinese telecom equipment due to security concerns, leading mobile operator Tata Teleservices has sought to ascertain the exact nature of the problem with these equipment or vendors from the government.

The company shot off its second letter to the Department of Telecom (DoT) in the last four days, seeking clarifications from the government. “As a Tata company, it goes without saying that we are committed to protect national security and, hence, we seek your guidance as to what is wrong with these equipment or vendors and what needs to be done by us or by these vendors to remain compliant with the requirements of national security,” TTSL said in its letter to DoT Secretary P J Thomas.