Jul. 30 – The Directorate of Telecommunications has made changes to the the unified access service license (UASL), reflecting heightened security concerns.
Equipment suppliers must now disclose business details and allow their manufacturing facility to be inspected. Moreover, they are obliged to reveal design, development and supply chain details as well as allow hardware and software inspections when the equipment is procured.
Telecommunication equipment suppliers will be meted a penalty worth 100 percent of their contract value if malware or spyware is found in their equipment. For instances when security is breached, operators will be penalized Rs. 500 million for every equipment purchase made.
The revised rules also require that sensitive software code be kept in an escrow account that could be accessed in case of a security emergency. The licensee holder must submit plans to eventually make equipment maintenance possible locally by Indian engineers.
Telecom service providers must formulate organizational policy to address security and management network issues to be submitted to the government within 30 working days from the date the UASL revisions were made.
It will be interesting to see if all of the telecoms providers can and will comply with these new rules. Will the companies play safe and only provide previous generation equipment to the Indian market to protect their other markets? It will be interesting to see what effect these new rules will have on the telecommunication market in India.