Cyber depts monitoring Chinese CCTVs: Ashwini Vaishnaw

Amid reports of Australian government offices removing more than 900 Chinese-made CCTV cameras over concerns of national security, Union Minister for Telecom and Information Technology (IT) Ashwini Vaishnaw on Tuesday said that the Indian government’s cyber security departments were monitoring the development and were well-equipped to deal with any threats to the nation.

“Our cybersecurity wings are already working on this. We should be able to counter any threat to India’s security. Whatever threat comes we should be able to counter it,” the minister told reporters here.

There were media reports that the Australian government has decided to remove all Chinese-made CCTVs from key installations suspecting possible snooping and spyware.

The minister also said that the GSM Association presenting the ‘Government Leadership Award 2023’ to India is a global recognition and acknowledgement of the country’s razor-sharp focus on telecom reforms and enabling policies.

GSMA, which represents more than 750 mobile operators and 400 companies in the global telecom ecosystem, recognises one country every year.

With nearly one lakh sites in 387 districts, the 5G rollout is one of the fastest in the world, he said, highlighting the country’s rapid progress in areas such as manufacturing, innovation, and job creation.

“We had promised that 5G rollout will cover 200 towns, cities and districts by March 31 in phase one. We have reached the target much earlier and today 5G coverage has reached 387 districts and one lakh BTSs (towers),” Vaishnaw said.

According to him, the country would achieve 100% 5G coverage by December 2024. About 6G, Vaishnaw said that India has already got 100 patents.

A task force formed to work out a roadmap for 6G has completed its work and many technology areas have been identified by it as focus areas.

He said many countries now want to implement India’s indegenious 4G/5G stack, and added that the country’s solution on ‘billion plus scale’ has appealed to many nations.