Huawei and ZTE don’t seem to have a very bright future in the Indian telecom industry. It is not just the border tensions between India and China, but also the Chinese companies’ dropping reputation across the world. Thus, it is not just Huawei and ZTE but also other Chinese companies that will be affected. The Indian government has made it clear that it doesn’t want Chinese technologies on the future telecom networks of the country, including 5G. The telecom operators have also been communicated the same indirectly that they are not to award any new contracts to the Chinese companies.
Huawei and ZTE Played a Key Role in the Development of 4G
While Reliance Jio relied on Samsung to develop its 4G networks, the other operators took the help of Huawei and ZTE. Both the companies have played a key role in the network expansion and development of 4G in several circles of India. Bharti Airtel’s Chairman, Sunil Bharti Mittal, has even backed the Chinese vendors to provide proven technologies at cheap rates to the Indian companies. Huawei and ZTE have been a part of the Indian telecom ecosystem for a long-time, even before the arrival of 4G. But now, both the companies, along with other telecom equipment vendors based out of China, don’t have a bright future in India. This is because of the security concerns and their reduced reputation in the international markets.
Telcos Exclude Huawei and ZTE From 5G Trials
The government had recently announced that the telcos would soon start with the 5G trials. All the operators have chosen European vendors for helping with the trials. The Chinese companies have been kept out signalling what’s about to be their certain future in India. It is not just India but also Europe and the United States (U.S.) that has started phasing out Chinese companies out of their ecosystem. The U.S. was particularly vocal in expressing its happiness and contentment on the decision of the Indian government to keep Huawei and ZTE out of the 5G trials.
New Government Portal to Further Ignore Chinese Companies
The National Cybersecurity Coordination (NCSC) is a government body that’s been designated the task of coming up with a list of trusted companies through which the telecom service providers (TSPs) of India can source their equipment from. A meeting held between companies a few weeks back for the same portal didn’t include any Chinese companies. This further assures us that the Chinese companies won’t get any contracts in India in short to medium future at least.
Huawei Positive About Its Future
However, Huawei is quite positive about its future in India. One of the senior officials of the company had recently said that when the time comes, the Indian government will recognise the value of Huawei and include it in its plans for rolling out 5G in India. Given the situation and the recent developments, it doesn’t seem like the Indian government is at all interested in including Huawei on its telecom networks anymore.
