Chinese telecom vendor Huawei heaved a sigh of relief as the New Delhi has decided to provide spectrum for 5G trials and allow all telecom operators and equipment makers In fact, another Chinese vendor ZTE can also participate in the trials thanks to this announcement.

Speaking on the sidelines of an event here, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Telecommunications and Information Technology, said, “We have taken a decision to give 5G spectrum for trial to all players... all companies will be allowed for the trials.”

Asked specifically about Huawei, Prasad said, “all means definitely all”.

5G is future

An in-principle decision has been taken in this regard, Prasad said, adding that 5G is the future, it is speed and government will encourage new innovation in 5G.

“This is the age of communication and communication is power, and this is the age of technology and technology is power,” he added.

According to sources, all telecom operators will do the trials initially along with vendor partners, followed by the vendors (such as Nokia, Ericsson, Samsung, Huawei and ZTE) independently doing so in the second phase. The government has never been reluctant to allow Chinese venodrs for 5G trials, but at the same time had also said that it will keep the national interest in mind.

Huawei, too, was always confident of getting the approvals and said that it was ‘hopeful’ that the government will treat foreign investments ‘fairly’. it had also urged the government to make an ‘independent decision’.

Jay Chen, Chief Executive Officer, Huawei India, told BusinessLine, “ We firmly believe that only technology innovations and high quality networks will be the key to rejuvenating the Indian telecom industry... We have full confidence in the government to drive 5G in India. Huawei is always committed to India.”

The issue of Huawei had for long been hanging fire, and telecom operators like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Reliance Jio were unable to do full-fledged 5G trials without all the vendor partners.

 

Also read: Govt creating framework for deployment of secure 5G services

 

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