India-made telecom gear now exempt from security clearance

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Delhi: The Telecom Department (DoT) is now planning to exempt telecom equipment and software made in the country from taking mandatory security clearance before they get deployed by operators, reports Business Line. This move could give a breather to Chinese vendors that were under the security agencies' scanner on grounds that they were importing equipment that could have inbuilt spyware. According to Business Line, Chinese vendors including Huawei and ZTE, may now look at setting up facilities in India to get around the scrutiny. Vendors like Ericsson, which already have a manufacturing unit in India may also ramp up their capacity to avoid clearance delays. With most Indian cellular operators investing billions of dollars in rolling out their network, equipment vendors wouldn't want to miss out on a contract due to procedural delays. Mobile operators had raised concerns that the need to take approvals could delay their rollout plans especially if the Government raised an objection. The new move could now make operators buy more from Indian software companies that offer a range of value-added and managed services, besides business operating solutions and supply chain management software.