Cabinet clears 74% FDI in telecom

The Cabinet today approved amendments to Press Note 5 of 2005 that impose stiff monitoring needs for telecom service providers, increasing foreign direct investment from 49% to 74%.

Accordingly, remote access to networks in India will be permitted from approved locations, information and broadcasting minister P R Dasmunsi told reporters after a meeting of the Cabinet. Such access will only be allowed to equipment suppliers, manufacturers and affiliates and will not allow access for monitoring calls and content.

It will also be mandatory for operators to keep an audit trail of all remote access activities for six months, send a compliance report twice a year to the government and maintain a 'mirror image' of all remote access information for online monitoring.

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