The National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), the trusted telecom cell has granted the US-based telecom software provider Mavenir a “trusted source” approval. The report comes in from sources that suggest that the Pardeep Kohli-headed firm that predominantly offers open radio access networks (OpenRAN) to telecom carriers has received the approval. No comments were made from the software company at this point.
More on the “Trusted Source” Approval
A person close to the unfolding of events stated that Mavenir has recently received approval from the trusted telecom cell of the NSCS that will help the company to closely work with the telecom operators in India. Mavenir is an American telecommunications software company, created in 2017 as a result of a three-way merger of existing companies and technologies, that develops and supplies cloud-native software to the communications service provider market. By receiving the approval of a “trusted source” from NCSC, Mavenir has joined the likes of European telecom vendors Ericsson and Nokia along with the US-based Cisco, homebred Tejas and HFCL that have already received trusted sources approval. According to a report from ET Telecom, even renowned firms such as China’s Huawei and ZTE are yet to complete the documentation process to be eligible for approval. For those unaware, NSCS is part of the National Security Council (NSC) that advises the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on matters related to national security and strategic interest. To be recognized as a trusted source, telcos have to access the portal and specify the telecom products they wish to procure and from which vendors, following which the government would contact the concerned vendors to submit the details of the products on the portal. The telecom wing of the cybersecurity body decides whether the products can be deemed as ‘trusted’ or not, once the vendor submits the required details. The Texas-headquartered company Mavenir has been investing in Open RAN for the last five years and has partnerships with more than 250 telecom service providers worldwide.