India Bans Chinese Mobile Phone Imports

[kesav 127]

AUSPI blames COAI for delay in resolving import ban of Chinese products

The Association of Unified Service Providers of India (AUSPI) has written to the DoT complaining about the delay in submission of comments by the COAI to DoT over resolving the issue of ban on import of Chinese telecom gear.

The DDG (AS) had asked for comments from AUSPI and COAI with respect to additional conditions to be included in model template of agreement between the licences and the third party.

According to AUSPI while it has submitted bids on June 22, 2010 the COAI is yet to submit its comments which eventually is delaying the resolving of the issue of import ban on Chinese telecom gear.

AUSPI said that for CDMA operators it was very important for the issue to be resolved as there was significant dependence of the operators on Chinese-made equipment. According to AUSPI this was creating a non level playing field and causing very serious QoS issues and capacity crunch in the networks.

It is requested that the model template may kindly be finalized immediately without waiting for the comments from COAI and allow our members immediately to import equipments, said AUSPI.

source:: http://telecomtiger.com/PolicyNRegulation_fullstory.aspx?passfrom=breakingnews&storyid=9531&section=S174

This is clear indication on how much Cartel(Airtel,Vodafone & Idea) will stoop their head to stiffle competition.

Earlier they were runing paid campaign in the electronic media agianst TRAI on 2G recommendations

Now they are playing delaying tactic knowing clearly that it'll affect their competitors.

Hopeless Idiots !!

Edited June 28, 2010 by kesav

[kesav 127]

Tatas cry foul over ban on Chinese vendors

NEW DELHI: The informal ban on import of Chinese telecom gear has led to an ugly spat among mobile phone firms. The Tatas, who operate the country’s

fifth-largest mobile company, have demanded that the Centre withhold allotment of third-generation (3G) spectrum to successful bidders till the new guidelines on security clearance for equipment import are in place. Successful bidders are scheduled to get 3G airwaves on September 1.

Even as the Centre maintains that there is no ban on imports from Chinese vendors, Tata Teleservices has said the telecom department is currently clearing only equipment imports from Western vendors. Large GSM-based telcos such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular mostly import gear from Western vendors.

“By virtue of permitting sourcing of equipment from particular vendors and not allowing others, it vitiates the principle of level playing field and thus means extending the advantage to a few of the successful 3G bidders to order their network upgrades,” the company said in its communication to telecom secretary PJ Thomas.

Tata Teleservices has also demanded that the department of telecom (DoT) put all 3G airwaves allocation on hold until security-related issues are resolved.

Leading GSM operators have hit back, saying both Tata Teleservices and Reliance Communications (RCOM) are already operating 3G services ‘illegally’ and are now attempting to delay the launch of similar high-end services by competition.

“In the case of CDMA telcos, both 2G and 3G services are offered using the same airwaves or spectrum—their data offerings such as high-speed internet through data cards are nothing but illegal 3G EVDO services,” said a top executive with a leading GSM operators.

Vodafone Essar had recently approached DoT alleging that RCOM and the Tatas are already offering 3G services and should be charged higher levies that are applicable to 3G operators. An executive with another GSM telco pointed out that COAI, the industry body representing GSM operators, has been campaigning for the Centre to take ‘penal action’ against their rivals for operating ‘quasi 3G’ services in the country.

A top telecom department official, directly involved in the recently-concluded 3G and broadband spectrum auctions, said the Tatas’ demand for level playing field with relation to equipment imports was valid, but added the government may find it ‘practically impossible’ to delay awarding 3G airwaves.

“The Indian government has signed a contractual agreement with all successful bidders in the auctions and any delay will amount to violation of this contract. The letters of intent have been issued. The money for the spectrum has been collected. The government will have no legal standing to delay awarding these airwaves,” this official added.

The spat has taken another twist as AUSPI, the industry body representing telcos such as Tatas and RCOM, has now accused GSM telcos of delaying the process of formulating new security guidelines for import of network gear.

It has said the consultation process on revised security guidelines has been held up as GSM telcos are yet to submit their views on it. AUSPI also

said all other stakeholders have submitted their views and demanded that the government finalise new guidelines at the earliest and not wait for participation from the GSM lobby.

“It is requested that the model template may kindly be finalised immediately without waiting for comments from COAI, and allow our members immediately to import equipment,” AUSPI said. But COAI director general Rajan S Mathews said the association has given its views, and while added that there are no differences between mobile phone companies on the proposed security guidelines.

Earlier this year, the central government had stopped approving import of Chinese telecom equipment after the home ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office expressed concerns that it posed a threat to national security. But after protests from both operators and Chinese vendors like Huawei and ZTE, the government came up with a temporary solution, which involved allowing import of Chinese-made telecom gear certified by international security audit firms.

The government had last month also decided to allow self-certification of imported telecom equipment by mobile operators against a bank guarantee given to the communications ministry. The government said these interim norms would be replaced by detailed security guidelines that would be issued soon.

But Chinese gear maker Huawei and operators such as RCOM and Tata complain that even after the self-certification process was introduced, the government has only been clearing orders placed on Western vendors.

“Equipment from Chinese vendors should be cleared where self-certification has been provided by operators. Only once the revised guidelines for security clearance of equipment are released, must 3G equipment ordering be allowed...” the Tata Teleservices communications added.

Last week, RCOM had also approached the telecom department saying the ban on Chinese gear was delaying the expansion of its 2G services and would also delay its 3G launch, if not addressed immediately.

“It is understood that security clearance has been given to service providers that are importing equipment from European vendors like Ericsson, Nokia Siemens as their networks are primarily based on technology from these vendors. But in the case of Reliance, we have deployed technology from Huawei, ZTE and import of equipment from these vendors being Chinese is not allowed at present. This is creating a non-level playing field between us and incumbent operators,” RCOM said in a letter to DoT.

A very valid and meaningful cry from TATA.

Hope Mr. Raja is listening.

Atleast in this matter, he steps in quickly and remove the unwanted and unjustifiable advantage which western infrastructure vendors are enjoying in the Indian telecom market.

[sgiitk 32]

I understand that the EVDO stuff is being sourced from Huawei by both Tata and Reliance.

[KanagaDeepan 1,084]

At least with regarding to CDMA technology, Chinese vendors are more interested than western equip makers.. This ban actually affects CDMA guys more, so even doubt arises over the GSM Cartel, behind this issue ..

[Arun 795]

Huawei takes steps to address security concerns

5 Jul 2010, 0046 hrs IST - Economic Times

Chinese telecom gearmaker Huawei said it has submitted ‘comprehensive confidence building measures’ to address all security concerns raised by the Indian government. Huawei’s business in India has been significantly hit since February 2010 when the Indian government refused to clear further telecom equipment imports from China citing security concerns. This has also delayed the network rollout plans of many mobile phone companies here, especially Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices, which largely depend on Chinese vendors.

“Keeping in mind our long-term commitment to India, we are actively evaluating and collaborating with the Indian government and we request a long-term framework and solution to the security issues, where all aspects including technology sharing will be addressed,” said Kevin Zhang, Huawei Technologies vice-president, global marketing department.

The Indian government had recently circulated draft regulations on proposed measures to address security concerns. The draft regulations state that all telecom gear makers, keen to do business in India, will have to deposit source codes and detailed design for all their products and services, into a government-controlled escrow account to comply with the new draft guidelines.

The proposed regulations also specify stipulations that executives of vendors who maintain a telco’s network will have to honour. It also lists a slew of conditions relating to regulatory and confidentiality issues, subcontracting and guidelines for transfer of personal data to external locations.

The draft guidelines also propose to bring vendors who maintain telecom networks here under India’s data protection laws. This implies, they can be prosecuted in India if they are found to have leaked any information or in the event of a security breach.

Huawei, an over $21-billion firm, has been growing at nearly 30% in India and reported a revenue of about $2.5 billion in 2009. But, with all orders since February failing to get clearance from the Indian government, the company may not meet its targets for 2010, according to its executives.

Asked whether Huawei would consider locals to head its Indian operations, Mr Zhang said “As part of Huawei’s long term India localisation strategy, we have achieved 85-90% localisation of Indian engineers and management in various functions.”

“Even our senior management team has been localised and currently we are in the process of establishing Indian corporate governance board comprising of eminent Indian professionals who will advice Huawei India,” he added.

Foreign telecom vendors, especially ones from China, want an early resolution of all security related issues in India. “We have been in continuous and constructive talks with the Indian government and have submitted a detailed package of confidence building measures which will comprehensively address all issues,” said Mr Zhang.

[kesav 127]

DoT releases comprehensive regulations in addressing security issues arising out telecom infrastructure deployment.

http://dot.gov.in/vacancies/2010/Director%20HRD.pdf

http://dot.gov.in/as/2010/template%20forwarding.pdf

http://dot.gov.in/as/2010/Template%20agreement%20%20DOT%20280710.doc

In the list of testing agencies published, one is from Taiwan to keep the things neutral.

Hope the things will be normal now and service providers can start expanding their infrastructure.

Kudos to DoT

:clap:

Edited July 29, 2010 by kesav

[KanagaDeepan 1,084]

Good.. Especially for RCom, Tatas and BSNL..

[raccoon 53]

Hmmm... RCom and BSNL seem to be using Chinese equipment and Tata uses it at least for its CDMA. Don't know about Docomo. Other operators seem to be using equipment from European vendors. And RCom and BSNL have the worst network quality. Does that suggest something?? Does anybody know better?

[kesav 127]

China telecom vendors ready to comply with norms

NEW DELHI/KOLKATA: Chinese telecom gear vendors have offered to comply with India’s new stringent security standards that are being opposed by most

other global suppliers, hoping to bridge a trust deficit that has plagued their operations in the country and finally partake of a $100 billion market opportunity.

This comes at a time when powerful business lobbies in the US, Europe and Japan are pressuring India to overturn the new norms, which notably require these vendors to park their software codes and designs in an escrow account in India if they want to do business in the country.

The rules, set by India’s security establishment and unveiled last week, also require vendors to employ only Indian nationals as engineers in the country. Chinese firm ZTE has just told mobile phone companies in India that it was willing to comply with the recently announced security guidelines, several people familiar with the matter told ET. Huawei is also widely expected to follow suit.

“It (ZTE) is working with its Indian telecom service provider partners. Huawei is also keen to cooperate with the Indian security agencies and is expected to sign the dotted line shortly,” a senior official in the communications ministry said. Executives with three local mobile operators said the Chinese vendors had sounded them out about getting into formal supply agreements, which will need their compliance with the new rules. The Indian government has made operators responsible for ensuring that vendors comply with the security requirements.

“ZTE had approached us saying they were ready to sign the agreement. We have already sent a communication to the telecom department informing them,” a spokesman for Tata Teleservices said. Officials at the Chinese vendors declined to comment.

“We will go along with what the government says although it is premature to offer comment. Various alternatives are being examined by ZTE,” ZTE Telecom India CMD DK Ghosh said. A Huawei official said that the company was going through ‘a detailed internal consultation process” and a final decision on India’s new security norms was expected next week. Last May, Huawei offered to reveal its so-called “source code” for its equipment to persuade Indian authorities that its telecom gear did not pose any security threat.

The latest offer by these Chinese vendors to comply with India’s new rules could give the Indian government an upper hand in its negotiations with European and US vendors. It could also blunt the lobbying efforts by Western industry associations to overturn the new rules. Some of these groups have warned that India could run afoul of global trade rules and “setting a dangerous precedent”.

American business lobbies have even enlisted the intervention of top figures in the Obama administration, including secretary of state Hillary Clinton, to challenge the new rules.

Some 20 trade groups have written identical letters to home minister P Chidambaram, telecoms minister A Raja, commerce minister Anand Sharma and the Prime Minister’s Office complaining that the new security norms were not consistent with global practices and that they had not been consulted during its formulation.

The new norms impose penalties of 100% of the contract value on mobile operators if any spyware or malware is found in their imported equipment.

Good move by ZTE. Hope Huawei will follow suit.

This will create immense pressure on NSN, Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent.

I've seen in the last week, western vendors were exerting undue pressure on Indian Govt. through their lobbying channels in their respective Govts.

[uziel 0]

Even handsets that come are chinese but just to sell in India and that they do not fall under 'unbranded' category, many companies have given chinese handsets a name but when you see the chipset n firmware, they are all same. Example are brands like Maxx, Lemon, Pagaria, Gee Pee, Micromax, Lava, Videocon, Vox,Orion, Hi-Tech, Wyncom, G-five, iMedia, Boss, MVL, T-series etc. Checkinh licences for all these will be an issue as well as business gets affected.

[kesav 127]

BSNL now free to buy Chinese telecoms gear

Aug 19 (Reuters) - India has lifted restrictions on state-run telecom Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) buying telecoms gear from Chinese vendors, having addressed security concerns, junior telecoms minister Sachin Pilot said on Thursday.

The government had asked BSNL in May last year not to buy equipment from Chinese vendors for use in sensitive regions near the country's land border, citing national security.

Last month, the government revised telecoms licence rules saying telecom equipment vendors must allow inspection of their gear and made carriers solely responsible for the security of their networks. [iD:nSGE66R0L3]

"Accordingly, now BSNL may enter into agreement with foreign vendors for purchase of equipment/software/services," Pilot said, citing the revised rules, in a written reply in parliament to a question whether BSNL was barred from procuring equipment from Chinese vendors.

Earlier this year, India also barred some local mobile phone operators from placing orders with China's Huawei Technologies [HWT.UL] and ZTE Corp (0763.HK)(000063.SZ), again on security concerns, before coming out with the revised rules.

India's restrictions have centred around its suspicion that Chinese equipment might have spying technology embedded to intercept sensitive conversations and government communications.

"Participation of foreign companies in strategic sector has bearing on national security," Pilot said in the written statement. He said that as BSNL was a state-run firm, its network "has to be relied upon in emergency".

In June this year, BSNL invited bids to supply equipment for 5.5 million GSM lines, but excluded Chinese companies.

source :: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSSGE67J02L20100820

[kesav 127]

Now all NLD/ILD licensees to comply with security norms.

http://dot.gov.in/ild/ILD_11.08.2010.pdf

http://dot.gov.in/nld/NLD_11.08.2010.pdf

Earlier DoT has released similar norms for all service providers(UAS/CMTS/Basic Service Licensees).

[kesav 127]

India reviews recent telecom gear import rules

NEW DELHI: India is reviewing telecoms gear import rules that it unveiled earlier this year to address security concerns, the country's top telecoms official said, after companies expressed difficulties implementing stricter rules including sharing their hardware and software codes.

Rentala Chandrashekhar, secretary of India's Department of Telecommunications , told Reuters in an interview that the government would allow until early December gear imports through a "parallel process" where firms do not need to adhere to the new rules, but need clearance from security agencies.

In July, India tightened rules for telecom gear imports, saying vendors must allow inspection of their equipment and share design and source codes in escrow accounts, in a move to address security concerns that had earlier led to barring Chinese firms from supplying telecoms gear in India.

"The process is on to review these stipulations in light of the feedback given by the companies," Chandrashekhar said. "Once that process of review is completed, then a view will be taken whether any changes are required (and) what are the changes which are required." Industry and government officials have said Chinese firms Huawei and ZTE have agreed to comply with the new set of rules, but European vendors such as Ericsson have expressed concerns.

Sweden's Ericsson, the world's biggest mobile networks maker, said this month it would not participate in auctions to supply GSM gear being held by Indian state carrier Bharat Sanchar Nigam [bSNL.UL], citing the company's demand that vendors give it access to hardware and software codes as one of the main reasons. Chandrashekhar said companies could seek exemptions on the new guidelines on a case-by-case basis, which would be vetted by security agencies while the telecoms ministry reviews the rules.

"There is also a review of how effective these measures have been and are likely to be in terms of meeting the security objectives," he said. Restrictions on Chinese gear makers and the tightened rules centred around India's suspicion that Chinese equipment could have spying technology embedded to intercept sensitive conversations and government documents.

As part of a broader electronic security crackdown, the government is also demanding access to intercept communications sent through highly secure BlackBerry devices of Canadian smartphone maker Research In Motion.

Officials have said Google and Skype would also be sent notices to set up local servers to allow full monitoring of email and messenger communications. India, which had threatened RIM with a ban if denied access to the data, gave a 60-day reprieve to the company at the end of August after being offered a solution to access some BlackBerry data, a move yet to be confirmed by the Canadian firm.

"The company seems to have offered some solutions to the security agencies which are being looked at," Chandrashekhar said. "We will come into the picture at an appropriate stage...we will review the situation after the security agencies have formulated their views on the solutions."

source:: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/telecom/India-reviews-recent-telecom-gear-import-rules/articleshow/6769775.cms

Edited October 21, 2010 by kesav

[kesav 127]

Telcos want unified security guidelines: AUSPI

Over the past year, security issues in the Indian telecom industry have been in the limelight. These issues have delayed the infrastructure rollout of some players.

S C Khanna secretary general of the Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India, or AUSPI, said to Telecom Yatra, "We are going to meet senior officials in Home and Telecom ministry this weekend; we will request them for a unified security guideline for all the players of the telecom ecosystem operators, infrastructure, handset, technology and content providers, which all the stake holders can follow. This will help reduce confusion."

He added, "Telecom industry supports the initiatives taken by the government on all security related issues and would like to ensure that security of the nation is not compromised. To achieve this, a unified security guideline will be helpful."

The telecom ecosystem in India has been plagued by security issues that have caused delays in rollout, expansion, and led to confusion over the past year.

At first it was security threats related to Chinese vendors supplying telecom infrastructure equipment. The confusion over the equipment import guidelines resulted in almost 6-7 months' delay in infrastructure rollout for new players.

Then there was the BlackBerry issue, and again several statements came out from the related ministries. This problem is still pending with no final decision having been taken.

Now, a new guideline, which has come from the ministry of Home Affairs, requires service providers to store all the SMSs sent from the network for 6 months. The current practise is of storing messages for two days.

On being asked why TRAI has been silent on telecom security issues so far, TRAI's chairman J S Sarma on the sidelines of an event here, said, "Both the ministries are looking into the matter and we do not want to intervene unless we are asked to."

But when asked about the guidelines for security he was also of the view that a unified guideline will certainly help.

He added, "TRAI will offer all the support in framing the guideline, but only if we are asked to. However, we have received no request so far."

source :: http://telecomyatra.afaqs.com/news/?sid=2208_Telcos+want+unified+security+guidelines:+AUSPI

Good move by AUSPI

:clap:

Certainly it's function of TRAI to formulate guidelines. In the recent past, in many occasions Ministry of Home and Minstry of telecom unnecssarily takes the job which has to be done by TRAI.

Ministry of home can request TRAI in formulating holistic unified scalable telecom security policy instead of poking its nose in haphazard way like ban on Chinese equipments, storing SMS communication for last 6 months, formulation of new security guideles etc.,

Although all these interventions are meaningful in security perspective, the manner in which it was done one after the other and also without involving TRAI is just unjustifiable and unpardonable.

It's advisable for MHA to provide their security objectives to TRAI during the formulation.

Nobody understands telecom industry and telecom technologies better than TRAI. Certainly neither MHA nor DoT has capability to make such a holistic telecom security framework and also neither of these ministries are empowered to make policy guidelines without consent from TRAI.

Edited October 21, 2010 by kesav

[raccoon 53]

Now, a new guideline, which has come from the ministry of Home Affairs, requires service providers to store all the SMSs sent fromthe network for 6 months. The current practise is of storing messages for two days.

This govt. is bent on obliterating privacy on all fronts.    Guidelines for storing messages for 6 months, but what about guidelines that protect them from the wrong eyes (not like I'm saying thats really possible)? Even right now, I'v been told that text messages can be accessed without much restrictions by employees... but at least maybe thats for 2 days. Now, it will be accessible for 6 months!  

[kesav 127]

DoT releases another comprehensive regulations on addressing security of telecom networks which supersedes all earlier regulations on the subject.....

These regulations put entire onus on telecom operators to maintain security of their networks....

http://dot.gov.in/AS-III/2011/as-iii.pdf

http://dot.gov.in/as/2011/Template_31-05-2011.pdf

Key points::

(1) Starting from 1st April 2013, certification on all network elements before induction must be done only from authorized and certified agencies/labs in India

Corollary:: India must complete the establishment of such labs before 31st March 2013

(2)Longitude and Latitude details of the caller must form part of CDR(Call Data Record)

Kudos to DoT

:clap:

Edited June 17, 2011 by kesav

[kshah 452]

Very very good requirement laid with regard to location. Indian cellco have been escaping from very basic security feature.

Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

[digitalnirvana 646]

It is basic requirement. But billing systems are complex and if something basic like CDR is changed then there will be development etc. costs involved. TRAI has given ample time as usual for operators to evade.