The Union Cabinet on Thursday further extended the date for compliance with Press Note 5 (2005 series) by three months to March 31, 2007. This is the third extension granted to telecom operators that have foreign direct investment to comply with security restrictions.
Sources said the Cabinet had also given the nod to telecom service providers for hiring foreign nationals as chief executives and chief financial officers, subject to security clearance from the Ministry of Home Affairs.
In the earlier Press Note 5, these posts could not be occupied by foreigners. However, the chief technology officer will have to be an Indian resident.
"The DoT note on FDI in telecom has been broadly approved. The note has been sent to a group of officers headed by the cabinet secretary for redrafting with revised guidelines for remote access on fixed line telecom networks, and the matter will come back for formal approval," Finance Minister P Chidambaram said after the Cabinet meeting. The revised draft on remote access is expected to be ready in about a month's time.
On the contentious issue of remote access from overseas to Indian networks, there was no consensus at the meeting, said sources. The Cabinet had asked the cabinet secretary to oversee the issue of new guidelines on remote access by the DoT.
On the issue of clearance for top executives, while the DoT had suggested an annual security check, a decision would be taken only after the government formulated an overall policy for sensitive sectors, including aviation, they added.
In its note for the Cabinet, the DoT had said that remote access could be provided only to telecom equipment suppliers, manufacturers, and the parent or affiliates of the licensee company.
The licensee would extend remote access to networks in India from its network control centres at any location only after taking prior approval of the DoT.
"The licensee company will not be allowed to use the remote access facility for monitoring of content," the note had said.
