The Department of Telecommunication (DoT) of Indian Government has cautioned the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), the state-owned telecommunication service provider, about offering its projects to Chinese companies ZTE and Huawei, reports ET Bureau.
According to some reports, home ministry and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) of India have raised their concerns about Chinese companies getting telecommunication projects in India.
Earlier, BSNL had decided to offer contracts to Chinese companies only for those areas that do not share international boundaries with China and Pakistan. Now BSNL is to offer contract for its Rs 5,000 crore project for the 15 million GSM lines.
The IB is of the opinion that restricting Chinese companies on the basis of geographies will no longer work.
An internal note from the telecom department on the issue reads – “In the recent past, despite being clearly advised by the DoT and the expert committee set up by home ministry and IB, not to allow Chinese equipment deployment in sensitive regions like North-East states, allowance by BSNL to ZTE to deploy wireless broadband network in North-Eastern states is highly objectionable and should not be allowed.”
The note warns BSNL on selection of Chinese vendors for 15 million lines GSM contract.
A few months back, the Indian telecom department had announced new security norms for telecom gear makers to address security concerns related to telecommunication projects being run in the country. The new rules were adopted especially to address concerns related to Chinese companies.
Now this fresh caution from the telecom department is expected to further slow down the BSNL’s expansion plans for its telecommunication infrastructure in the country.