Huawei will provide product code to the Indian government

August 20 news, according to foreign media reports, Huawei said on Thursday that it is willing to accept the new regulations promulgated by the Indian government to submit the source code and engineering design of the equipment to the Indian government. A spokesperson for the company said that Huawei welcomes new security regulations and is willing to work closely with the Indian government on new rules.

The new regulations address the service providers mentioned by the Ministry of Telecommunications of India. According to the regulations, sellers of equipment must allow service providers, the Ministry of Telecommunications, or third-party agencies designated by the Government of India to inspect their hardware, software, design, development, and manufacturing facilities and supplies. Chain, and at the time of purchase and under certain circumstances, submit all software for security inspection.

The Ministry of Telecommunications of India stated that the introduction of these new regulations in the revision of licensing provisions for telecommunication service providers is to ensure the security of the network. According to the new regulations, if equipment vendors find security problems after installation, they will face huge penalties and will be blacklisted.

In December last year, Telecom India stated that Huawei had lost about 300 million U.S. dollars after it failed to pass the government’s security review. A Huawei spokesperson said that the company has conveyed to the Indian government its willingness to accept the new regulations and expects that the lost orders will have results in 1 week.

However, other equipment vendors are reluctant to give in to the new regulations in India. Ericsson reportedly opposed the new rules and submitted a hard-written written statement to the Indian Ministry of Telecommunications. An Ericsson spokesperson stated via email that some of the provisions in the new regulations were unprecedented.

According to sources, another Chinese equipment manufacturer, ZTE, has not yet confirmed its position. ZTE Corporation issued a statement saying that the company has always cared for and respected intellectual property rights and believed that the Indian government should also respect the international practices of protecting sellers’ intellectual property, including source code and design details. ZTE has always insisted that its equipment meets the highest international safety standards and does not contain any malware, spyware, or backdoors that may threaten national security.

Kunal Bajaj, head of India at telecom consultancy Analysys Mason India, said earlier this month that the new rules may not allow the Indian government to achieve its safety goals because the source code of equipment is usually several hundred thousand lines. Finding spyware, malware, and security holes is not easy. He believes that it is best for the Indian government to take the original plan to require equipment suppliers to pass certification from an independent agency.