Vodafone seeks DoT nod for pan-India video conference service

NEW DELHI: Telecom major Vodafone has sought a fresh date from DoT for demonstrating compliance of its proposed pan-India video conferencing service with security norms, a step mandatory for starting communication services.

DoT has mandated telecom companies to enable lawful interception and monitoring (LIM) of all kinds of communication on their network in event it is required by security agencies.

The company has earlier demonstrated LIM facilities on April 29 that allowed security agencies to intercept and monitor content of video conferencing calls but it has not yet received approval from Department of Telecommunications (DoT).

"There is business urgency to launch VC (Video Conferencing) services at the earliest, we would request you to kindly fix a new date for re-demonstration of LIM facilities and capabilities for VC services to be offered by Vodafone pan-India," sources said quoting a Vodafone India communique to the government.

Vodafone India learnt that a report on the April 29 demonstration from law enforcement agencies did not reach DoT, sources added.

The demand for intercepting video call services was placed before telecom operators after they announced plans to launch video calling services using 3G spectrum.

Vodafone has 3G spectrum in 9 out of 23 service areas in the country.