Trade Wars: India Will Bar Telecom Vendors If Their Home Country Restricts Indian Companies

Foreign vendors of telecom equipment will be able to supply to Indian buyers only if their home country allows similar import of telecom equipment from Indian companies, a new government order has stipulated. These restrictions will apply for Wi-Fi, fixed line and mobile networks including next generation 5G telecom services, news reports have said.

The list of equipment includes "access points, routers, optical fibre cable, enterprise routers and related technology, integrated broadband systems, broadband transmission equipment, models etc"

Supply of telecom equipment has been a political hot potato in the recent past with companies, especially those from China, being accused of building backdoors and planting vulnerabilities in the networks to favour their home country.

In a major relief for Chinese technology major Huawei, the government last December permitted the company to take part in the 5G trials in India.

The United States (US) last year blacklisted Huawei's key research facilities in the country and has also barred Huawei affiliates from buying specified equipment from US suppliers. US President Donald Trump called the Chinese company a "national security threat" and has been actively working to thwart Huawei from supplying equipment for United Kingdom's (UK) 5G network.