DoT panel says foreign players must install local servers in India

DoT panel says foreign players must install local servers in India

A Department of Telecom (DoT) panel has proposed that foreign long-distance telephony players such as Verizon, AT&T, BT and Cable Wireless should set up local servers in India. The panel’s proposal is aimed at helping the agencies keeping a tab on the data and voice tariff on cellular networks from locations abroad and giving them access to these networks within the country.

The draft report from DoT panel says foreign players should install a local remote access storage server in the country. The operators should also work to have a system where they can limit remote access to the network in India in case an emergency, suggests the panel report.

The current rules allow international long-distance operators to set up servers outside the country. The operators need to have an official approval for the location of the service. These remote access servers are used to control and manage the global network from a single location.

For the domestic operators and service providers that are long-distance arms of the telecom operators, the government has barred any transfer of account information of users (except in case of roaming) outside the country. They cannot share information about their infrastructure and network diagrams.

The Association of Competitive Telecom Operators (ACTO), representatives of the foreign carriers in India, has opposed the panel proposals. “Global operators may directly fetch the logs from network elements or from central logging servers (located outside) India. In any event, the details of the implementation may vary as long as the desired objected is met,” ACTO is quoted as saying in its communication to the DoT.

Source: Economic Times

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