Trai strongly feels there is a need to create self-reliance and job opportunities within the count.
Manufacturing telecom equipment locally is a strategic as well as an economic imperative, India’s telecom regulator said, in the backdrop of trade restrictions imposed on China’s telecom gear maker Huawei by the United States last week on grounds of national security.
RS Sharma, chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) informed Economic Times that local manufacturing of backend telecom equipment is of strategic as well as economic importance. He further added that the safety and security of the telecom infrastructure and equipment are very crucial.
Job requirement becoming vital
The news daily reported that in August last year, the regulator had proposed a Rs 1,000-crore fund to boost local production of telecom gear, aiming to cut net imports to zero by 2022. India’s telecom equipment imports surged to $21.84 billion in 2017-18, from $14.69 billion in 2014-15, government data showed.
Network equipment such as the switches, routers, base trans-receiver stations, antennae and multiplexing systems are mostly imported. Trai strongly feels there is a need to create self-reliance and job opportunities within the country.
