India's 5G committee reportedly wants Chinese vendors like Huawei excluded from trials

The US-China trade war has been especially hard on Chinese electronics giant Huawei who had been earlier banned from doing business with any US-based company. Although the ban has now been lifted, the company is facing a new challenge in India regarding its 5G telecom equipment. Reportedly a senior government functionary has opposed allowing Huawei to participate in the 5G trials currently taking place in the country.[caption id="attachment_6194371" align="alignnone" width="1024"]

Representational Image: Credit: Reuters[/caption]K Vijay Raghavan, who is the Principal scientific adviser and also the head of a high-level committee on 5G has said in an interview with Times of India that India should “go for (5G) trials immediately with all, except China." Huawei has long been suspected of having close ties with China's ruling communist party and there are concerns that a backdoor could be placed in Huawei's equipment to spy on people.The committee for 5G trials comprises the Intelligence Bureau (IB), ministries of external affairs, home, telecom and IT and the department of science and technology. As per the report, all of them have agreed on placing safeguards while dealing with Huawei.While none of the rumours about Huawei has substantial proof behind it, one thing for certain is that Huawei definitely has an edge in the 5G telecom sphere. Getting approval from the Indian government has become more of a necessity for Huawei as it reels from US sanctions on its telecom equipment.As per the report, the IB official said that the panel would need to take an objective view on the security concerns arising around 5G deployment. He also said that giving permission to Huawei for 5G trials in the country is linked to how India will secure its network and that the choice to keep put any vendor is a political call.