The Indian government has no plans to give the Trusted Source certification to Chinese telecom manufacturers like Huawei and ZTE, forcing these entities to stay away from the Indian market for long.
With Shein - a banned Chinese company- returning in collaboration with Reliance Industries, there was an expectation that telecom companies could be making a comeback as well.
However, officials told Business Standard that a call had been taken to keep these companies away with national security concerns in mind. A source told the publication that two telecom service providers had made an informal request to the government recently, asking it to consider the matter so that some categories of telecom equipment could be imported from China.
Companies have mentioned increasing costs while expanding 4G and 5G networks in India. Chinese companies cannot ship network equipment to the country without the 'Trusted Source' tag, a label that products manufactured by them also require.
Without necessary approvals, these companies find it hard to compete with the likes of Cisco and Samsung in the Indian market.
A senior official in the Department of Telecom told BS "Apart from being a sensitive sector, telecommunications in India is at a crucial stage owing to the 5G rollout. The devices which are driving the massive economic and industrial change not only have to be technologically fool-proof but also have to be sourced from parties who have to be beyond reproach."
Telecom service providers are sourcing equipment from companies elsewhere, industry insiders told the publication.
Reliance and Airtel get Radio Access Network (RAN) equipment from Finnish companies Nokia and Ericsson for their 5G services.
The government has held the position that Chinese companies like Huawei operate under China's laws, and can thus be pressurized by their agencies to leak information - a claim these companies have denied.
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