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Huawei
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India said to dissuade telecoms network operators from buying Huawei, ZTE gear

  • Huawei is betting on customers for its 5G equipment in India, where it was allowed to take part in network trials
  • A deadly border clash between Indian and Chinese troops last month has renewed calls in the large South Asian economy to boycott Chinese tech

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An Indian youngster watches a cricket match on his smartphone. China’s two largest telecoms equipment vendors, Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corp, could be shut out of the roll-out of superfast 5G mobile networks in India amid rising tensions between the two countries. Photo: EPA-EFE
Bloomberg
India may advise local telecommunications network operators to shun equipment made by China’s Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corp, people with knowledge of the matter said, as relations between Asia’s two biggest economies have deteriorated amid a border dispute.

New Delhi is also planning to review existing contracts of state-owned Mahanagar Telephone Nigam and Bharat Sanchar Nigam with Chinese companies, the people said, who asked not to be identified as the matter is under discussion.

The country’s Ministry of Communications has approached private telecoms companies, including Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio Infocomm and Vodafone Idea, on their use of Chinese network equipment, they said. The ministry was not immediately available for a comment.

Telecoms equipment suppliers from China, including Huawei, have been eyeing a dominant role in securing contracts for 5G mobile network roll-out in India after they were allowed to participate in trials. India had so far resisted moves to join the call by the US and others for a ban on these companies from supplying equipment for superfast 5G networks, seen as essential to developing advances in factory automation, autonomous driving and artificial intelligence applications.

Huawei, which was recently designated by the US Federal Communications Commission as a national security threat and blocked from selling its equipment in the US and some other markets, is betting on customers for its 5G gear in India, the largest mobile phone market outside China.

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