India and China, both countries have been pushing hard to not intensify their long-standing territorial disputes. But it seems like the situation will worsen in case India blocks China’s Huawei Technologies from doing business in the country.
India is due to hold trials for installing a next-generation 5G cellular network in the next few months but has not finalised yet whether Chinese telecoms equipment maker will be invited to participate or not, said Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.
Chinese officials have warned India about ‘reverse sanctions’ on Indian companies doing business in China if it blocks Huawei.
Major Indian companies Infosys, TCS, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Reliance Industries, and Mahindra & Mahindra which have forayed in China market are under major threat due to govt’s stand on Huawei.
Meanwhile, the US and China are in the middle of severe geopolitical struggle as the Donald Trump-led country blacklisted Huawei back in May citing national security concerns.
Back in June 2019, the Indian government received six proposals for 5G trials including China’s Huawei but the US has been pressing India and others to bar the company from its 5G development, and deployment, enumerating concerns of Chinese surveillance on these networks.
It’s worth noting that Huawei conducted the first 5G trial with Bharti Airtel in India. It also installed a 5G RAN that operated on a 3.5GHz network band, along with 5G Core and a 50GE network slicing router in February 2019.
Industry estimates outline that 5G has the potential to enable a $27.3-billion revenue opportunity for Indian telcos, and churn several millions of jobs by 2026.
Huawei, which lead the Chinese market, aims to be the world’s biggest 5G market. According to media reports, no evidence has been received which can prove that Huawei has used “back-door” programmes or malware to collect data in its current operations in India.
Since the Chinese government has warned India with consequences if Huawei would be forbidden from 5G auction, the ball is in the court of Indian counterpart.
While we don’t know about what would be the stand of Narendra Modi-led government on Huawei, in case, the govt comes hard on Huawei – strategic collaboration, as well as, funding from China will be under direct threat.
This development was first reported by ET.
