Telecom panel to mull remote access shortly

A group comprising National Security Adviser MK Narayanan, Cabinet Secretary BK Chaturvedi and the secretaries of the ministries of home, defence, finance and telecommunications is slated to meet shortly to examine security conditions and safeguards regarding remote access to public switched telephone networks (landline phones).

The group, set up on the direction of the Cabinet, has also been asked to recommend changes in the guidelines for foreign direct investment of up to 74 per cent in the telecom sector. Based on the recommendations of this group, the matter will be brought before the Cabinet, most likely before March this year, sources say.

The Cabinet had, on December 21, extended the date for compliance with the conditions of Press Note 5 (2005 series) by three months.

It had cleared all the proposed amendments in the Department of Telecom (DoT) policy (of November 3, 2005) to enhance FDI in telecom services from 49 per cent to 74 per cent.

Meanwhile, the DoT is examining the security concerns over the proposed transition of the existing time-division multiplexing networks to the emerging next generation networks (NGN). The NGN transports all information and services (voice, data, and all media such as video) into packets, like the internet.

The DoT's telecom engineering centre (TEC) has set up a committee for NGNs comprising experts from among the operators and the Centre for Development of Telematics.

In fact, since the TEC has already set up a committee, the department feels no further action is needed on the Telecom Regulatory Authority (Trai) of India's recommendations on the technical issues. Trai has also set up an NGN expert group to examine the issue of migration to these networks.

The matter may be brought before the Cabinet by March this year.