India doesn't name Huawei among participants in 5G trials

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam

04/05/2021 14:32

NEW DELHI, May 4 (Reuters) - India will allow mobile
carriers to carry out 5G trials with equipment makers including
Ericsson  ERICb.ST , Nokia  NOKIA.HE  and Samsung's  005930.KS 
network unit, the government said on Tuesday, but did not name
China's Huawei among the participants.
    Major carriers Reliance Industries'  RELI.NS  Jio Infocomm,
Bharti Airtel  BRTI.NS  and Vodafone Idea  VODA.NS  will conduct
the trials along with state-run MTNL  MTNL.NS  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  000063.SZ  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.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2KP2VE
    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. 
    Huawei and ZTE are likely to be on this embargoed list,
Reuters reported in March.

 (Reporting by Sankalp Phartiyal; Editing by Pravin Char)
 ((sankalp.phartiyal@thomsonreuters.com; +91-11-49548064;))