DoT asks telecom operators to designate nodal agents to coordinate with NCSC on trusted sources, products, Telecom News, ET Telecom

NEW DELHI: Telecommunications Department asked telecoms operators – Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea to nominate respective nodal managers to coordinate with the designated authority, the NCSC, for the trusted sources directive, and share information on a designated portal Regarding the company, the products they intend to log into their network portal to make sure they fall under the category of “trusted sources”.

“TSPs should also appoint a nodal manager who will have access to the portal and also provide inputs to the DA, both offline and online,” the Department of Telecommunications said (Point) in a statement Tuesday.

While the procurement rules take effect on June 16, the NCSC will launch the beta portal on April 15 and notify the gear categories for which the trusted sources safety code is applicable.

“The licensee must provide any information, at the DA’s request. The licensee should only connect trusted products to their network and also request permission from DA to upgrade the existing network, by using telecommunications equipment, not designated as trusted products, “Read the statement below.

Airtel and Vodafone Idea have contracts with Chinese suppliers Huawei and ZTE, as well as Nokia and Ericsson, while South Korean Samsung is Jio’s supplier.

It should be noted that the Ministry of Telecommunications amended the existing licensing conditions for Telecommunications Service Providers (TSPs) in March 2021, with the aim of protecting India’s telecommunications networks and possibly ban Chinese equipment suppliers Huawei and ZTE, due to national security concerns.

The National Cybersecurity Coordinator (NCSC) finalized the criteria for identifying trusted sources and products and communicated to telecom operators and other stakeholders the process of providing information in a meeting where they were attended all foreign telecom operators and equipment suppliers – except Huawei and ZTE in China, ET reported in the March 28 edition.