America’s Telecom Gambit in India: Trade Push or Strategic Play?
Union Minister Piyush Goyal during India-France Business Conference on June 4! (Image credit Commerce ministry)
Washington’s demand for India to ease testing rules and accept global certifications may appear pro-trade, but it also reflects a deeper strategic ambition.
By SANJAY SINGH
New Delhi, October 8, 2025 — The United States has turned its gaze sharply toward India’s telecom sector — a market it once watched from the sidelines but now views as strategically indispensable. At first glance, Washington’s insistence that India harmonize its telecom testing standards with global norms and recognize international labs seems like a logical step toward regulatory efficiency.
But beneath this policy push lies a more complex agenda: one part trade, one part geopolitics, and entirely about influence.
For decades, India’s telecom infrastructure has been a battleground between Chinese efficiency and European reliability. American players, largely absent from the physical network gear segment, now want a slice of the pie — not merely for commercial reasons but also to counter China’s deep technological embedding across the developing world.
The US has raised concerns over India’s Communication Security Certification Scheme (ComSeC), which requires all telecom equipment — routers, switches, WiFi access points — to undergo local security testing under the Indian Telecom Security Assurance Requirements. Washington argues that these procedures are costly, redundant, and effectively bar international participation. India, for its part, views these rules as essential to safeguard national networks from espionage and cyber vulnerabilities.
The clash reveals a fundamental contradiction. The US champions open markets but also wields strategic trade policy as a geopolitical tool. Its appeal to accept certifications from International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) labs and adopt the Common Criteria Recognition Arrangement (CCRA) might indeed streamline global trade — but they would also dilute India’s control over its own cyber verification process.
India’s approach, while bureaucratically heavy, stems from a legitimate desire for digital sovereignty. After all, telecom networks today are the front lines of national security. No country — least of all one as geopolitically exposed as India — can afford to let another nation’s standards dictate what connects its citizens and data systems.
Yet, India cannot afford isolation either. Excessive protectionism risks raising costs, slowing innovation, and alienating key allies at a time when 5G and AI ecosystems are becoming global in scope. The challenge for New Delhi lies in balancing sovereign safeguards with open-market pragmatism — a balance that neither Washington nor Beijing has quite managed to strike themselves.
America’s current overtures may be wrapped in the language of “trade facilitation,” but make no mistake: this is strategic competition disguised as cooperation. For India, the prudent path is to engage — but on its own terms. The country’s telecom future must remain secure, sovereign, and globally competitive, not swayed by the loudest lobby or the strongest ally.
(This is an opinion piece, and views expressed are solely those of the author only)
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