Telco players object to revised locally sourced product policy

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has obtained a number of objections from home telecom tools producers and commerce our bodies over the previous 10 days for altering the definition of domestically sourced merchandise, which qualify for public procurement, sources stated.

In separate letters to Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, the DoT, and the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Secretary, the Telecom Equipment Manufacturers Association of India (Tema) has stated the DoT’s transfer to categorise even imported telecom merchandise as native for public procurement functions was “retrograde” and would damage the federal government’s ‘Make in India’ coverage.

The transfer, Tema stated in its letter to Vaishnaw, would allow 100 per cent import from China and different nations and make them eligible for public procurement choice “by simply assembling without even having 0.1 per cent of local components and without any emphasis on R&D, design development or IPR”.

On August 31, the DoT issued an inventory of 25 telecom merchandise, akin to satellite tv for pc telephones, optical fibre and cables, ethernet switches, and optical fibre, which it stated would qualify as native merchandise even when they used imported parts for home manufacturing.

The new notification, which is in supersession of August 2018 notification, says a number of the merchandise, even when dropped at India in fully knocked down stage could be thought-about native and be eligible for use in works of public sector corporations.

The DoT’s transfer, executives stated, would damage native corporations which had been “aggressively planning expansion” owing to Make in India and choice deliberate for home companies.

“These products and services are now not required to comply with the Telecommunication Engineering Center (TEC)’s general and interface requirements. It pits the likes of Nokia, Cisco, and Ericsson against small domestic companies, who have spent so much time and energy for R&D and design so that their products meet Indian TEC standards,” a telecom tools maker stated.

Industry executives have additionally questioned the rationale behind the choice, asking how the DoT determined that the home capability and functionality of those merchandise disappeared since 2018, when the preliminary notification was issued.

“There were 63 products which were brought in the list after due consultation from all trade bodies, domestic and foreign companies. This time the list has been brought down to 25, without any consultation from us,” one other trade govt stated.

The Telecom Equipment and Services Export Promotion Council (Tepc), which additionally has authorities nominated members, has additionally written to the DoT Secretary, arguing the coverage would encourage “multi-national companies” to “inflate the prices of the imported parts, components to achieve the requisite level of ‘local contents’ of their telecom products”. Report Wire