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India is one of 29 countries that sought access to Vodafone’s network to intercept calls, text messages and e-mails during the previous financial year, the British telecom company said in its first law enforcement disclosure report.
In the report, made public on Friday, Vodafone did not disclose details on how many requests the Indian government had made, citing the Indian laws didn’t allow disclosure of information on interception and communications data.
Vodafone, the second-largest cellular operator in India, did not disclose details on if it had complied with the requests of the Indian government.
“The report encompasses all 29 operating businesses directly controlled by Vodafone in which we have received a lawful demand for assistance from a law enforcement agency or government authority between April 1, 2013, and March 31 2014," Vodafone said in the report. It mentioned the Indian Telegraph Act obliged telecom service providers to “maintain extreme secrecy” in matters concerning lawful interception. The IT Act allows the government to prevent publication of aggregate data in relation to lawful interception and other data disclosure demands from the government and law-enforcement agencies.
Vodafone noted it had not included countries in which it operated where no such demands were received. “We have focused on the two categories of law-enforcement demands that account for the overwhelming majority of all such activity: Lawful interception and access to communications data,” said Vodafone.
“In our view, it is governments, not communications operators, who hold the primary duty to provide greater transparency on the number of agency and authority demands issued to operators,” Vodafone said in the 88-page report. The company plans to update the report annually. "If we do not comply with lawful demand for assistance, governments can remove our licence to operate, preventing us from providing services to our customers,” it stated.
