India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has reportedly asked all telcos in the country to provide details of Chinese equipment still being used in their networks.
According to a report from ETTelecom on Monday, citing unnamed sources, the government wants to keep tabs on Chinese involvement in India’s telecoms sector “to pre-empt potential security threats from likely vulnerabilities in telecom networks.”
Chinese telecoms vendors Huawei and ZTE have been effectively shut out of bidding for new telecoms contracts in India since 2021 after tensions escalated between India and China following a border dispute. That year, the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) ruled that all vendors must be certified as “trusted sources” to qualify for new contracts. Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung has received such certification, while Huawei and ZTE have not.
However, according to ETTelecom, Huawei and ZTE gear is still used in 4G networks run by Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, as well as BSNL’s 2G network. The vendors are still allowed to service existing equipment, including replacement and upgrades.
The latest missive from the DoT comes amid the ongoing trade war between the US and China, under which President Donald Trump has raised tariffs on Chinese imports to 145% as of last week. On Friday, the Trump administration said some electronics products produced in China would be exempt, but only for 30 days. China has responded with its own tit-for-tat tariff hikes on US imports, which stood at 124% as of Saturday.
With neither side backing down, ETTelecom says, industry experts have speculated whether the trade war would encourage India and China to patch up their differences at least as far as trade is concerned, which might also be good news for Huawei and ZTE. Chinese handset makers Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo, who have been accused of alleged tax evasion amid ongoing tensions between India and China, could also potentially benefit from a thawing of relations.
However, that seems unlikely in the short term. According to Reuters, India’s Commerce and Industry minister Shri Piyush Goyal said at an event in Delhi last week that manufacturers in India and the US “have suffered from China's unfair trade practices” over the years, to include goods dumping.
Also, like most countries, India is also caught up in the US tariff saga, with Trump raising tariffs on India to 26% earlier this month. Last week, Trump paused the tariff hike on some countries, including India, for 90 days.
An Indian government official told Reuters that India is already taking advantage of the tariff pause to negotiate a deal with the US and that a deadline has already been set.
