Taking note of the country’s security interest, the Department of Telecom (DoT) has imposed stricter condition on mobile service providers on importing SIM cards.
As per DoT notification, from October 1, 2013, mobile service providers can only import blank SIM cards and they have to upload operating systems and other software in India. From October 1, 2014, onwards, besides loading software, the service providers have to manufacture all SIM cards within India.
At present, service providers import software-embedded SIM cards from different countries, including China. As per the DoT estimates, around 30 per cent of the SIM cards are being imported at present.
Earlier, the Ministry of Home Affairs has cautioned the DoT that large-scale import of SIM cards can pose threat to country’s security with the chances of installing bug to make it inactive.
As per the standard trade practice, the telecom companies have to provide the encryption keys to the manufacturers for personalisation of the SIM cards. By using the encryption keys, SIM cards can be cloned, which could put the nation’s security at risk, the Home Ministry cautioned. Once the encryption keys of any SIM card are compromised, it can be used to trigger various attacks.
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