Centre mulls audit & security checks of all Chinese telecom gear.

The Centre plans to do both an audit as well as security checks of all Chinese made telecoms gear installed on the existing networks of all service providers before allowing any fresh imports from that country, officials familiar with the development said.

The move is to dispel concerns of the home ministry, which since 2005, has repeatedly warned that foreign telecom equipment vendors, especially Chinese, have the capability of installing spyware and malware that can monitor voice and data traffic and disable networks.

All new mobile operators rolling out telecom networks have chosen to partner with Chinese companies. Besides, large parts of the both the GSM and CDMA networks of both Tata Teleservices and Reliance Communiations consist of Chinese-made telecoms equipment gear. Incumbents such as BSNL, MTNL, Idea amongst others also have installed Chinese made telecoms gear on their networks.

Source : The Economic Times