Huawei Only Permitted for 5G Trials so Far, Says Telecom Secretary

Amid reports of Chinese technology major Huawei being banned in several countries, including the US, on security concerns, Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan on Tuesday said the Indian government has allowed the company only to carry out trials for 5G connectivity as of now.

Speaking to reporters in New Delhi on the sidelines of a workshop on Internet of Things (IoT) and Machine-to-Machine (M2M) technology, Sundararajan clarified that the government would put the necessary safeguards in place before allowing companies to deploy 5G connectivity and access the core networks.

"We have asked...or rather Huawei has applied to us for participating in the trials, that is different from deployment," she said.

The secretary said that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) would like to utilise the opportunity to understand Huawei's architecture and to what extent it would comply with the networks in India.

"We will be putting in place necessary safeguards. We will be putting in place all necessary safeguards before allowing any access to the core networks".

Along with the US, Canada and the UK some other European countries have raised concerns over snooping by the Chinese major.

Local equipment manufacturers have also urged the government to stop the procurement of Huawei products for public sector projects.

Last week, Union Communications Minister Manoj Sinha told Rajya Sabha there is no proposal yet to ban the company in the country.