Govt drops demand for telco gear source code

India has dropped its demand that telecom equipment suppliers hand over proprietary source code, in a relief for local telcos and multinationals such as Ericsson, Nokia and Cisco, but poses a setback for local gear makers.

- Jatin Grover

After the latest change, manufacturers need to provide just a summary of internal security test results and confirm following the testing procedure. If there is a suspicion of product vulnerability during a security breach, they must also submit full test reports and cooperate with the telecom department's source code testing unit.

Two officials aware of the matter confirmed the change. Mint has also seen an amendment on the source code requirement in the telecom security rules.

Source code is a key piece of software that controls the working of the physical equipment. A February notification that telcos must submit their source code had alarmed foreign companies supplying equipment such as switches, routers and modems.