Procurement of equipment for 5G through trusted sources: Ashwini Vainshaw
Communications, Electronic and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vainshaw (Photo/IANS)
New Delhi: The Communications, Electronic and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vainshaw on Wednesday said that the equipment procurements for 5G technology has been done through the trusted sources.
Responding to a question asked by Congress Member Manish Tewari in the Lok Sabha whether the Chinese company Huawei was asked to be a part of the 5G trial in India and whether the Indian government has refused a permit, he said that the procurement for 5G services is being done through trusted sources. He refused to take the name of any company.
Responding to another question, the Minister also said that the infrastructure for 4G network in the Aspirational Districts have been under process and these infrastructures have been setting up in 7,387 villages and in comparison to 2014, over 23,000 towers have been installed so far and the government owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited has been doing job to extend internet connectivity to over 17 lakh households.
The house witnessed heated arguments between the treasury and opposition benches when DMK member Dayanidhi Maran asked why government owned BSNL and MTNL have deteriorated and private network like Jio has been promoted, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi and Communications Minister Vaishnaw objected to it and said why the situation deteriorated, Maran knew it better.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla intervened and advised all members to ask questions on the policy matters.
The Communications Minister informed the house that both BSNL and MTNL have been in the process of revival and engineers of both the companies have been working on 4G and 5G technology and they will soon bring out the most affordable and cheap technology for both networks.
Responding to concerns over the online games and online betting expressed by some members, Vaishnaw also said that the right to ban the online betting or lottery comes under the domain of the state governments, if all states agree for a uniform law banning online betting and games, the Centre can make a law, but the states need to take a call first. So far, four states -- Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have banned online games involving prize money while Sikkim and Goa have permitted it.
Responding to the question on poor connectivity in remote areas, he further said that the base price of spectrum is fixed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).