When the government initially sent out invites to global 5G majors, Chinese firms Huawei or ZTE were not invited. It took a protest by Huawei, which has established a big centre in India, for the government to relent. ZTE, though, didn't receive any invitation. In an invitation to Huawei, the telecom secretary asked it to participate in the trials, and even complimented it for developing the telecom sector in India. The others invited are Nokia, Ericsson and Samsung, all of whom have started making presentations to the government.
The US recently asked its treaty allies and other close partners to refrain from using Huawei in their systems. The 'Five Eyes' - US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand - joined in to restrict Huawei's presence in their 5G systems. Germany and other European powers have issued their own restrictions on Chinese tech investments.
India hasn't articulated its security concerns, but sources say there's an unwritten rule against Chinese investments in sectors which could soon be labelled 'critical infrastructure'. The government has set up a high-level 5G forum, which includes secretaries from telecom, science & technology, electronics & IT besides some experts.
Huawei, a global headache, enters 5G trials in India - Times of India
The Indian government had constituted a high-level task force to develop the 5G ecosystem in the country. In the next 5-7 years, beside an early deployment of 5G services in the country, the government aims to create a globally competitive product development and manufacturing ecosystem covering 50 percent of the Indian market and at least 10 percent of the global market.
India has also established a $77 million 5G testbed to support service providers developing 5G products and services. In the past few months, members of the task force have had interactions with the armed forces' leadership on the subject of enhancing the self-reliance of the Indian defense forces in critical advanced technologies.
"We have to understand that it is not a simple progression from 4G technology to 5G technology. 5G is a totally different technology with high strategic significance. Whatever happened in the past is history," BK Syngyl, a former CMD of VSNL, told Sputnik.
Nevertheless, Chinese firms have made strong inroads into India's growing mobile phone and data market in the last few years. India permits up to 100 percent foreign direct investment in the telecom sector, but it requires approval from a government board. The board regularly checks investor profiles, including whether the entity belongs to a friendly or unfriendly country. Despite these checks, Chinese firms invested an estimated $2 billion in 2017 in India.
India’s 5G Rollout Not to Have Chinese Firms Participating Amid Spying Concerns
"Ban the procurement of any Chinese telecom equipment in any government telecom network (centre or state), including power, rail, defence and PSUs. We believe that indigenous equipment makers already have the products, IPR as well as manufacturing capability and capacity to address these needs," Telecom Export Promotion Council (TEPC) Chairman Shyamal Ghosh said in a letter to Doval.
Ghosh, former telecom secretary, shot off the letter following recents move by developed countries like the US, Japan, Canada, the UK, Germany, Australia and New Zealand to block purchase of equipment from companies such as Huawei, ZTE and Fiberhome, particularly for 5G networks.
"While it is common knowledge that telecom equipment from China pose severe security threat (especially for India), recent decisive actions by technologically savvy countries have confirmed this," Ghosh said.
He cited case of Estonia that faced DDOS (Distributed Denial of Services) attacks in 2007 and case Stuxnet which target SCADA systems and is alleged to have affected Iranian nuclear programme.
"It is in this context that I would like to bring to your kind attention, the perception of our members to a rising security threat of Chinese telecom equipment vendors being used in our telecom networks," Ghosh said. He said that India is transforming into digital nation for which telecom network should be purchased from trusted source.
"Also, by offering low prices and long-term financing ,backed by their state owned banks, they are winning major part of the capex spends of private telecom operators in India," Ghosh alleged.
He said that with mounting international pressure against Chinese telecom equipment vendors, there is a strong possibility that they will increase their focus on India to garner more business and further aggravate cyber security risks in the country.
Indian Telecom export body urges NSA to ban on Chinese telecom gears
The US recently asked its treaty allies and other close partners to refrain from using Huawei in their systems. The 'Five Eyes' - US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand - joined in to restrict Huawei's presence in their 5G systems. Germany and other European powers have issued their own restrictions on Chinese tech investments.
India hasn't articulated its security concerns, but sources say there's an unwritten rule against Chinese investments in sectors which could soon be labelled 'critical infrastructure'. The government has set up a high-level 5G forum, which includes secretaries from telecom, science & technology, electronics & IT besides some experts.
Huawei, a global headache, enters 5G trials in India - Times of India
The Indian government had constituted a high-level task force to develop the 5G ecosystem in the country. In the next 5-7 years, beside an early deployment of 5G services in the country, the government aims to create a globally competitive product development and manufacturing ecosystem covering 50 percent of the Indian market and at least 10 percent of the global market.
India has also established a $77 million 5G testbed to support service providers developing 5G products and services. In the past few months, members of the task force have had interactions with the armed forces' leadership on the subject of enhancing the self-reliance of the Indian defense forces in critical advanced technologies.
"We have to understand that it is not a simple progression from 4G technology to 5G technology. 5G is a totally different technology with high strategic significance. Whatever happened in the past is history," BK Syngyl, a former CMD of VSNL, told Sputnik.
Nevertheless, Chinese firms have made strong inroads into India's growing mobile phone and data market in the last few years. India permits up to 100 percent foreign direct investment in the telecom sector, but it requires approval from a government board. The board regularly checks investor profiles, including whether the entity belongs to a friendly or unfriendly country. Despite these checks, Chinese firms invested an estimated $2 billion in 2017 in India.
India’s 5G Rollout Not to Have Chinese Firms Participating Amid Spying Concerns
"Ban the procurement of any Chinese telecom equipment in any government telecom network (centre or state), including power, rail, defence and PSUs. We believe that indigenous equipment makers already have the products, IPR as well as manufacturing capability and capacity to address these needs," Telecom Export Promotion Council (TEPC) Chairman Shyamal Ghosh said in a letter to Doval.
Ghosh, former telecom secretary, shot off the letter following recents move by developed countries like the US, Japan, Canada, the UK, Germany, Australia and New Zealand to block purchase of equipment from companies such as Huawei, ZTE and Fiberhome, particularly for 5G networks.
"While it is common knowledge that telecom equipment from China pose severe security threat (especially for India), recent decisive actions by technologically savvy countries have confirmed this," Ghosh said.
He cited case of Estonia that faced DDOS (Distributed Denial of Services) attacks in 2007 and case Stuxnet which target SCADA systems and is alleged to have affected Iranian nuclear programme.
"It is in this context that I would like to bring to your kind attention, the perception of our members to a rising security threat of Chinese telecom equipment vendors being used in our telecom networks," Ghosh said. He said that India is transforming into digital nation for which telecom network should be purchased from trusted source.
"Also, by offering low prices and long-term financing ,backed by their state owned banks, they are winning major part of the capex spends of private telecom operators in India," Ghosh alleged.
He said that with mounting international pressure against Chinese telecom equipment vendors, there is a strong possibility that they will increase their focus on India to garner more business and further aggravate cyber security risks in the country.
Indian Telecom export body urges NSA to ban on Chinese telecom gears
