Government allows Huawei to participate in 5G trials

Brushing aside security concerns of the West, especially the US, the Government has allowed the controversial Chinese telecom equipment Huawei to participate in the 5G trials slated to be launched early in 2020. The spectrum auctions of the telecom technology are expected to be held by the end of the year or start of 2021.

The Minister of Telecommunications, Ravi Shankar Prasad, on Monday, said, "We have decided to give 5G spectrum trail to all players, which means all companies will be allowed to take part in the trails". He said, "We have taken an in-principle decision to give 5G spectrum for trials." On being asked specifically about Huawei, the minister replied that at this stage, all vendors are invited.

The government's decision has boosted the hopes of the Chinese company that they are likely to be a part of the next-gen technology despite objections from the Western world.

With the decision, Huawei along with other Chinese makers such as ZTE will be able to join other global equipment makers such as Finland's Nokia, Sweden's Ericsson, US's Cisco and South Korea's Samsung in rolling out 5G use cases in India. Successful trials will lay the foundation of the country's next-gen telecom ecosystem.

Concerns of the United States

The US has been warning and pressurizing its allies and friendly countries like India to keep Huawei away from 5G deployments. It has flagged security concerns against the company due to its alleged proximity with the Chinese government.

Besides the US, countries like Japan, Taiwan, New Zealand and Australia have not allowed Huawei to participate in 5G deployments. However, countries like Russia, South Korea, France and the Netherlands have permitted the company to participate in 5G deployment in the country.

China's Stand on India

China has warned India of economic consequences if Huawei was excluded from 5G development and deployments.