The department of telecommunications (DoT) has decided to allocate spectrum to all telecom operators and equipment makers for the upcoming 5G trials, including the Chinese vendor, Huawei.
“The age of 5G is coming and we are working together for this. We have taken a decision to give 5G spectrum for trial to all the players,” telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said at the sidelines of an event. When asked about the fate of Huawei, the minister said “all means definitely all”.
Official sources said that all the telecom operators would conduct trials initially, which will be followed by the vendors independently in the second phase. The trials are expected to start from January 2020.
Huawei’s participation in fifth generation mobile technology (5G) trials in India has been dragging on for the past several months over issues related to security and the Chinese company has also been facing global scrutiny over network security.
Earlier this year, while taking charge of DoT, Prasad had announced that 5G trials will start within 100 days, but the process slowed down on account of security issues concerning the world’s largest telecom equipment maker.
In a statement from the chinese company, Huawei India CEO Jay Chen, “We have also read the news in media and we thank the Indian government for their continued faith in Huawei.”
“We firmly believe that only technology innovations and high quality networks will be the key to rejuvenating the Indian telecom industry. We have our full confidence in the Modi government to drive 5G in India. We have our full confidence in Indian Government and industry to partner with best technology for India’s own long term benefit and also for cross industry development. Huawei is always committed to India,” he added.
Huawei already has presence in 35 of the 51 commercial 5G networks, globally including in countries like the UK, Norway, South Korea and Malaysia. It has also deployed 4G networks for Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea in India.
Besides Huawei, other telecom gearmakers, which will participate in the trials include Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung.
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Source: Financial Express
