Telecom gear forms "central nervous system", should be produced locally: TRAI Chairman

While the mobile handsets are at the edge of the system, the central nervous system is also an extremely important and sensitive piece, and therefore the equipment must be manufactured within the country, TRAI Chairman R S Sharma said.

New Delhi: Amid wide-scale concerns over the use of Chinese gear in telecom networks, TRAI Chairman R S Sharma has said that the telecom equipment forms the "central nervous system" of sensitive and strategically-important telecom networks and the equipment should be produced in the country.

While the country has become a manufacturing powerhouse for mobile handsets, the same must also be done for telecom equipment, Sharma told PTI.

He added that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had earlier given its detailed recommendations on promoting local telecom equipment manufacturing.

Sharma's comments assume significance in the backdrop of growing clamour around the world, as also in India, against the use of Chinese equipment in networks over security concerns.

It may be recalled the US President Donald Trump banned the Chinese telecom major Huawei from the domestic communications networks.