What the unions and sensible persons have been telling all along, the National Security Council have also taken the same stand now. It has supported the position taken by the DOT, that local manufacturing of telecom equipment should be given priority compared to im[port of the same.

Lakhs of crores of rupees had already gone to the foreign companies towards import of telecom gear. But it is not the reason for the present sand of the NSC and DOT. It is the security concern. They are worried about the equipments imported by Chinese companies, Huawei and ZTE. Since the Chinese equipments are cheap, most of the private companies have been importing the same. But it was when BSNL planned to purchase equipment from these Chines companies that the security alert became stronger.

Any way, the decision to focus on local manufacturing is a wise decision. We have got C-DOT, ITI, Telecom Factories etc. which can a play a big role in R&D and also manufacturing. Whether DOT and BSNL will utilise the opportunity and start manufacturing in a sizable way? It has got to be seen.