MTNL takes the call, applies for digital signature licence  ( October '6,2003, The Economic Times)

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam has formally applied for a licence to operate as a Certifying Authority (CA) for digital signatures and the Controller of Certifying Authorities has appointed Covansys India to audit the telcos infrastructure at CGO Complex, Lodi road for the purpose.

MTNL has invested Rs 12 crore in the project and hopes to leverage on its wide customer base to proliferate use of digital signatures in the country, piggy-backing on the telecom revolution. Bangalore-based Covansys will begin its work soon, and once the audit clears MTNL will receive a licence to operate as a CA for digital signatures.

MTNL is also putting up a disaster recovery site. Mahindra British Telecom which was earlier identified for the auditing work, did not take up the assignment as it has business associations with MTNL. A digital signature is an encryption and decryption method which facilitates fool-proof identification of the author of an electronic message.

It also guards against any tampering of the message. When a CA issues a certificate for a digital signature to a person, it authorises the person as the owner of the signature and specifies the purpose for which the digital signature is to be used.

So far, four CA licences have been issued including Safescrypt, Tata Consultancy Services, Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT) and National Informatics Centre (NIC). The Central Board of Excise and Customs is in the process of applying for one.

As a licensed CA, MTNL which has 25 lakh customers can issue digital signatures to subscribers for a host of services. A Trump subscriber, for instance, can have the digital signature on his pre-paid SIM card and can recharge his account with this unique personalised identification without having to rush to the neighbourhood outlet. MTNL customers can also fill up applications for STB service online. Similarly for the 64,000 employees working with the telecom behemoth, workflow and processes can be automated and made secure. A person handling billing can authenticate payments with the help of a digital signature.

According to reliable sources, MTNL is planning a slew of specialised services apart from these basic ones. It would cater to non-MTNL employees and subscribers too. It would also appoint sub-CAs, which would allow corporates to use its infrastructure to issue digital signatures to their employees. This would help companies get the benefits of digital signatures without investing in the infrastructure. Appointment of sub-CAs is permitted under the norms laid out for CA and digital signature activities under the purview of the Information Technology Act.