India doesn’t name Huawei among participants in 5G trials
India will allow mobile carriers to carry out 5G trials with
equipment makers including Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung’s network unit, the
government said on Tuesday, but did not name China’s Huawei among the
participants.
Major carriers Reliance Industries’ Jio Infocomm, Bharti
Airtel and Vodafone Idea will conduct the trials along with state-run MTNL in
urban, rural and semi-urban areas, the Ministry of Communications said in a
statement.
The statement did not mention Huawei and smaller Chinese
rival ZTE among the participating network equipment suppliers.
Huawei declined to comment, while ZTE and the Indian
ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the list of
companies involved.
While India has not named the Chinese players as taking part
in the six-month trials, which aim to test 5G gear and technology in different
environments, it has not banned them from supplying 5G equipment to carriers.
Two government officials told Reuters in March, though, that
New Delhi will likely block mobile carriers from using telecom equipment made
by Huawei, under procurement rules due to come into force in June.
India is the world’s second-biggest market by number of
phone users. Authorities are wary of awarding new technology business to
Chinese companies because of security concerns, government sources have
previously said, and a desire to help local telecoms equipment manufacturers.
The government’s telecoms department said in March that,
after June 15, carriers can only buy certain types of equipment from
state-approved “trusted sources” and said New Delhi could also create a “no
procurement” list of banned suppliers.
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