India hopes to resolve Chinese telco gear issue soon.

NEW DELHI: India expects to resolve in a couple of weeks the restrictions on import of China-made telecom equipment, which the government had barred on security concerns, Telecoms Minister Andimuthu Raja said on Friday.

India is concerned that Chinese equipment may have spying technology embedded to intercept sensitive conversations and government documents.

"We do hope that it will be resolved with the home ministry within a couple of weeks," Raja said, adding that he has already discussed the issue with the interior minister.

"Some of the issues were there. We wanted to find out some solutions (on) how it can be amicably settled."

Earlier this year, India had barred Indian mobile phone operators from placing orders with China's Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corp because of security concerns, Indian telecom industry officials have said.

However, in June a government source had told Reuters that India might allow Chinese telecom equipment imports after putting in place security checks, indicating a softening of India's position on an issue that has clouded ties between the two Asian powers.

Source : Economics Times