The government has admitted that security agencies are concerned about the foreign telecom equipment companies like ZTE helping Indian operators roll out 4G services in the country.

“A reference has been received from a Security agency expressing that  Bharti Airtel  while rolling out the 4G services is using Time Division-Long Term Evolution (TD-LTE) technology, which has been developed by ZTE, a Chinese company”,  Milind Deora, the minister of State in the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology told Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

Deora said that the information with regard to number of towns/cities in the country where 4G network is managed by ZTE company is being collected from the Telecom Service Providers.

Recently, Bharti airtel has rolled out 4G services in Kolkata with the  help of ZTE.

He said that that role of ZTE in managing the 4G network and adequacy of training to local personnel of Bharti Airtel may be ascertained.

“Government has mandated that licensee shall induct only those network elements into his telecom network, which have been got tested as per relevant contemporary Indian or International Security Standards from any international agency/labs of those standards until 31st March, 201”, he said.

He said that from 1st April, 2013 the certification shall be got done only from authorized and certified agencies/labs in India.

The Security agency has not given any suggestion. However, it has inquired about the training given by ZTE to the local personnel to handle the 4G network.