Don't allow Chinese firm Huawei in 5G trials: SJM requests to PM

The telecom department will evaluate 5G trials for security checks before taking a final call on the vendors who will be allowed to deploy the next generation airwaves in the country. This means the Chinese telecom equipment makers Huawei and ZTE’s battles with the government are not done. Telcos may have trouble fixing their vendors till the final list for deployment is announced.
A government official confirmed that the permission given was for trials only and not deployment, which means Huawei and ZTE are not out of bad position yet. Jay Chen, Huawei India’s CEO though has welcomed the Indian government’s decision to allow all network equipment makers, including Huawei, to participate in 5G trials. But now with multiple sources confirming that permissions have been granted just for technical trials, operators will continue to remain in a confusion  on whether they can go ahead and finalse their 5G vendors or not.

“Telcos will continue to be well aware before placing their orders with either Huawei or ZTE till official confirmation on deployment is given,” said a telecom analyst. While Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea work with all vendors, Reliance Jio typically has partnered with Samsung and showcased a driverless car with Ericsson in a conclave.
Some analysts have said that barring the Chinese vendors could mean increasing the cost of 5G for consumers in India by 15-20%, besides a delay in rollout. Huawei is said to be at least a year ahead of its rivals in 5G technology development.

Urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene, the RSS affiliated Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) on Tuesday said Chinese firm Huawei should not be allocated airwaves for 5G network trials to ensure that India's security interests are not compromised.

The government has indicated that it will not affect any particular equipment suppliers, such as China's Huawei, in the upcoming  trials for 5G, with Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday saying airwaves will be allocated to all telecom service providers for conducting trials of super-fast speed 5G networks. SJM's co-convener Ashwani Mahajan said the organisation has made representations to the department of telecommunications cautioning and alerting it of "various threats Huawei brings in". Emphasising that its words of caution were "either over-ruled or were purposefully ignored", the SJM said it requests Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his office to intervene as India's security interests can't be compromised in this digital era.

Noting that Chinese information warfare doctrine is the core of its military strategy, Mahajan said in the letter: "We request you to immediately restrict Huawei and other Chinese firms from operating in the Indian market and conducting 5G trials."