In the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attacks, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said an effective cooperation was needed between security agencies and the telecom industry to combat such incidents. "It is very important that there should be effective cooperation and coordination between the agencies whose responsibility is to safeguard the security of the country and producers, all actors in the industry (of technology)", he said while inaugurating the India Telecom 2008 conference. Singh said this while endorsing FICCI president Rajeev Chandrasekhar's suggestion that there was a need for very serious upgrade in the government's thinking on the level of cooperation that is currently engaging with the telecom industry to counter terrorism. The telecom industry currently provides real-time support through legal intercepts and monitoring mechanism. The Prime Minister said though modern technology is a powerful tool, it still can be a threat if it falls in the hands of anti-social elements and terrorists. And thus there is a need for an effective coordination between the security agencies and the industry. Terrorists involved in the Mumbai attacks had managed to secure SIM cards and maintain a communication network out of the country - a matter of concern for security agencies which, as a matter of fact, have the power and ability to intercept the data and calls. Telecom Secretary Siddartha Behura later said DoT has a security wing specially to have useful coordination between intelligence agencies, industry and the licensor (DoT) itself. Singh said impartial regulation should administer all infrastructure sectors (like telecom) which have been thrown open for increased competition, both to the domestic as well as international investors.
