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ZTE to meet official in Indian import row
17 May 2010
India’s home secretary GK Pillai is to meet officials from ZTE in the continuing dispute with Chinese makers of telecoms equipment
The Indian government has given one month to Huawei and ZTE to reveal full details of their ownership. The government says that it is concerned that foreign telecom equipment makers, mostly from China, are a national security threat as they can have spying technology embedded in their equipment.
ZTE’s officials in India will meet the Indian home secretary — an official, not a minister — GK Pillai, to discuss matters related to the purchase of telecom equipment from China. Indian operators need security clearance from the Ministry of Home Affairs before importing equipment from anywhere.
Indian government officials have said there is no blanket ban on Chinese telecom equipment imports but all suppliers, Chinese or otherwise, need to meet security regulations.
A bid by Huawei in 2009 to supply equipment to state-run BSNL was not opened due to security concerns. In November, the government asked BSNL not to buy equipment from Chinese companies for deployment in “sensitive” areas. GTB