Telcos urge DoT to scrutinize Huawei plan to overhaul internet protocols

Tech corporations and cell operators have cautioned the telecom division to not implement in a rush a proposal from China’s Huawei to overtake present protocols and techniques governing web operations in India within the run-up to 5G deployments.

The Broadband India Forum (BIF), which represents Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Qualcomm, Intel, Hughes and Amazon, amongst others, has urged the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to run a detailed test on all related information privateness and data security risks, regulatory considerations, value implications and web infrastructure governance points earlier than taking a agency view on Huawei’s proposal.

“The existing IP framework is still working and there are no credible reasons to believe that they will not continue to adapt to future needs,” BIF president T V Ramachandran stated in a letter to the DoT dated September 16, seen by ET.

Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), which represents India’s non-public telcos, declined to remark.

But a senior telco business government, backed the view, saying “there is no immediate need for DoT to overhaul India’s internet framework and systems as our existing architecture/protocols – IPv4 and IPv6 – have already addressed some of the concerns flagged by Huawei around internet infrastructure inadequacy in the next-gen networks context, and will get addressed more comprehensively going forward”.

The DoT had just lately sought business views on a year-old Huawei proposal made in the International Telecom Union (ITU), calling on nations, together with India, emigrate to a brand new web protocol (IP) framework and structure to handle the complicated wants (together with safety) of next-gen telecom networks that may embody cutting-edge 5G applied sciences comparable to linked sensible IoT (web of issues) units, self-driving vehicles, holograms to AI.

Tech corporations, on their half, have urged the federal government to purchase time from the ITU to evaluate all regulatory considerations that could possibly be triggered by Huawei’s proposal, particularly these round internet neutrality, legislation enforcement and information privateness. It has additionally urged DoT to test if embracing a brand new web operations framework would undermine innovation, drive-up web utilization prices for end-users and prohibit web entry.

Huawei’s proposal – backed by China Mobile, China Unicom and China’s ministry of business & IT – says present international web infrastructure is “designed for telephones and computers”, and is ailing geared up to deal with the wants (together with safety) of heterogeneous networks.

DoT has sought suggestions on whether or not Huawei’s considerations are legitimate and whether or not the present IP framework can help heterogeneous networks and provide intrinsic safety. It has additionally sought value and time estimates for any migration to the proposed IP framework structure, and on the scalability of India’s present web structure. Digi World Blog