The project to set up a Centre for certifying telecom equipment will now
be taken up by the Department of Telecom(DoT) as Telecom vendors have
refused to share manufacturing details with the Indian Institute of
Science(IISc) in Bangalore.
Though the prestigious IISc had done some
initial work it was unable to proceed further because vendors were not
ready to share the design details of the equipment as it is an academic
institute, according to an official note.
The project that will
help telecom service providers in inducting only 'safe to connect'
telecom network equipment will now be executed by the Department of
Telecom (DoT), the note said.
In the wake of reports that some
foreign telecom companies were placing bugging devices in the equipment
imported to India, the Government had decided to set up a Telecom
Testing and Security Certification Centre (TTSCC).
The aim of the Centre was to certify that any imported telecom equipment did not have any bugging mechanism inside.
The
Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh had already sanctioned an amount of Rs. 50 crore for the Centre
which will be responsible for development of processors, systems, attack
prevention tools, security standards and certification of security
testing.
While stating that the Centre would be set up under DoT,
the telecom department said 23 staff members would be immediately
required , followed by another 69 after two years and 100 after four
years.
The expenditure for the manpower requirements will be met
from the Rs. 50 crore provided for the project during first two to three
years and later the Centre would start generating its own revenue
through fee for laboratory certification and charges for security
testing of equipment, it added.