New Delhi: Smita Purushottam, a retired 1980 batch Indian Foreign Service officer, has written to the government requesting a ban on Chinese telecom equipment in India, citing national and economic security concerns.
The letter, dated 16 January 2020, is addressed to Department of Telecommunications Secretary Anshu Prakash, and is signed by Purushottam, in her capacity as the founder-chairperson of Science, Indigenous Technology & Advanced Research Accelerator (SITARA), an advocacy group she set up in 2018 to advocate for more local production in technology-intensive industries like telecommunications.
The letter is also signed by professor N.K. Goyal, chairman emeritus of industry body Telecom Equipment Manufacturers Association of India (TEMA).
In response to the letter, the DOT has called Purushottam and other stakeholders for a meeting on 20 February. This was confirmed to ThePrint by Purushottam, Goyal, and the heads of four Indian telecom manufacturers — Lekha Wireless Solutions, Saankhya Labs, QuikProto Research Labs, and Nivetti Systems. A fifth company, Tejas Networks, also confirmed it, with its CEO Sanjay Nayak saying someone from his company will attend the meeting.
However, the DOT secretary’s office said it had no idea about any such meeting.
Purushottam was India’s ambassador to Switzerland between 2015 and 2017 and to Venezuela between 2012 and 2015. She had also served as counsellor for economic and commercial affairs at the Indian Embassy in Beijing between 1994 and 1997.
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Help Indian companies build 5G capability
In her letter, Purushottam has also asked the government to support Indian companies build capability to provide 5G services — the next generation in mobile communications.
The letter states: “Appropriate policies must be formulated so that induction of foreign and Chinese equipment in sensitive networks is not repeated.”
It asks for “a ban on Chinese equipment in particular”, and says a modified tender bidding process must also be implemented “for the benefit of indigenous companies”.
In the context of India’s preparations for 5G, Purushottam and the others also mention “deep reservations” about the Indian government “seeking the advice of and/or involving experts close to the Chinese government in a vital project affecting national security”.
“We wish to underline that anyone with connections with the Chinese government must be automatically excluded from any project of such national significance,” the letter states.”
The letter requests the government to set up an organisation to cultivate 5G capabilities in Indian telecom equipment manufacturers. It draws a parallel to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), noting that that agency has been successful in executing complex projects in its sector. The letter also notes that India can afford to spend additional time to cultivate local 5G capabilities since there are no “urgent ‘use-cases’” for 5G in India.
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The urgency over 5G
Purushottam’s letter doesn’t mention the controversial Chinese firm Huawei by name, but hints strongly at it by saying: “The so-called ‘urgency’ about 5G is exclusively based on hype created by foreign equipment vendors, especially Chinese entities who are blacklisted in Western countries, who are only interested in dumping 5G equipment in India.”
ThePrint sent an email to Huawei requesting its view on this letter. However, a Huawei insider said over the phone that the company will likely not respond since “everyone is writing a letter and a response will only validate the letter”.
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Our investment Policy, and foreign trade policy do not show much concern for national security. BSNL itself is guilty of installing ZTE telecome quipment everywhere in the country. These may contain hidden spyware which may transmit the data to China. There is already suspicion that Xiomi phones do this.