Govt unlikely to ease curbs on Chinese telecom gear

The government is unlikely to ease restrictions on Chinese telecom equipment supplied by companies such as Huawei and ZTE to the operators in India any time soon, despite a recent thaw in the relationship between the two countries, said sources in the government.

Much of the future course will depend on the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s conversations with Chinese President Xi Jinping when he visits the country this weekend.

No free pass
“There will be no free pass for the Chinese equipment suppliers right now. If it happens, it will come through the proper channel (as per Press Note 3). India has its own 4G/ 5G stacks now, so operators can utilise these ‘Made in India’ equipment,” a government source told businessline.

As per Press Note 3, any company procuring equipment from India’s bordering countries has to get a ‘trusted source’ certification that requires mandatory testing before importing the gear. This ensures that the gear meets national and international standards of safety and emissions, and also meets national security requirements.

Recently, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had also sought details from all the telecom operators, including Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone-Idea, about Chinese equipment deployed in their networks amid the escalating US-China tariff war.

The development came after the local gear makers raised concerns over the absence of a process to test and verify the radio equipment that enters India after certification.

However, according to industry sources, telcos have stopped procuring Chinese equipment for renewals to the existing ones in 2G and 4G, citing government backlash.

“There is no renewal happening even for the existing equipment which are running in its older form, and many of them are also getting phased out now. There could be a penalty imposed by the government on renewals of that equipment, and telcos don’t want to take any risk at this poin,” an industry source told businessline.

Post the Galwan clash between India and China in June 2020, the Centre took economic measures against Chinese firms, including restrictions on telecom gear and banning even Chinese apps.

However, companies were allowed to continue with the existing Chinese equipment in their infrastructure, and for renewals, the telcos were asked to procure through only a ‘trusted source’ mechanism.

Companies, including State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL), were procuring equipment from Chinese firms like Huawei and ZTE till then for their mobile network equipment.

Recently, Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya M Scindia also said that India has its own telecom stacks now, which are being deployed not only to the domestic telcos, but also exported to other countries.

“We are among the top six countries today that are filing for 6G patents. We have built one of the most robust telecommunication networks and systems across the world, which is cutting-edge, customer-oriented oriented and service-oriented…In a period of 22 months, we produced the first domestic 4G stack for the world — and India has become the 5th country in the world to produce its own telco stack,” he said recently. The Hindu BusinessLine