U.S. panel approves sale of undersea cables to VSNL
By agencies   |   Wednesday, 13 April 2005, 19:30 IST
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WASHINGTON:A U.S. panel has approved the $130 million sale of a network of undersea communications cables to Indian company VSNL, saying the purchase doesn’t raise national security concerns. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States told Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd., the country's leading telecommunications company owned by the Tata group, it will not launch a full-scale investigation of the company’s plans to buy the undersea cables from Tyco International Ltd. The panel told Videsh Sanchar in a letter Monday that there were "no issues of national security to warrant an investigation." The Justice Department, FBI, Homeland Security Department and Defense Department signed a 32-page agreement with the company to guarantee the U.S. Government can continue to install court-authorized wiretaps on the network and conduct background checks on Videsh Sanchar employees in the United States. Such agreements are common. The agreement also requires that Videsh Sanchar take steps to prevent illegal eavesdropping on U.S. customers and to guarantee that foreign governments can’t access classified or sensitive U.S. government information carried over the undersea network. The agreement acknowledges that the U.S. government would suffer "irreparable injury" if Videsh Sanchar failed to comply with its promises.

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