Airtel and Vi Ignores Chinese Dealers

Airtel and Vi (Vodafone Idea) have ignored Chinese dealers when awarding new projects. The two telecoms operators follow the same path as Reliance Jio. India's largest telecom operator has stressed that it does not depend on any Chinese dealers to offer its services. Hence, Jio has been called a "clean telco", and the telecom giant has been taking advantage of the term for a while. Airtel and Vi have followed suit by not offering new contracts to Chinese dealers ZTE and Huawei, which are their longstanding partners in the supply of telecommunications equipment.

Airtel and Vi do not offer new contracts to Chinese dealers

According to a report by ET Telecom, both Airtel and Vi have refrained from offering new contracts to Chinese dealers. However, these telecom operators are still working with ZTE and Huawei on their old and existing contracts that have yet to be completed.

One of the main reasons why Indian telecom operators do not work with Chinese dealers is not only data security but also geopolitical reasons. It is said that many European and American service dealers are not comfortable working with companies that use gears and equipment from Chinese dealers. This is due to the potential for data theft that these American and European companies have in abundance.

So now telecoms operators are looking to award contracts to companies like Nokia, Ciena and Cisco. Chinese dealers like Huawei and ZTE will not be considered to offer new deals by telecom operators, and that has become clear.

Telecom operators need to plan their network strategy, and for that, they need some clarity on how things can be run. But working with Chinese dealers won't give telcos the clarity they need to plan. Therefore, it is sensible to look ahead of Chinese companies.

At present, Airtel relies on both Nokia and Huawei to equip the NLD network in India. For those unaware, NLD is part of Airtel's core networks. With Airtel and Vi following the same "clean telecoms" route, it will be exciting to see where Chinese dealers finally end up in the Indian telecom space.