Why India’s Move to Ban Huawei, ZTE in Telecom was Great

The tensions between India and Pakistan have skyrocketed in the last couple of days. While many are talking about esclating or de-escalating, one thing is standing apparent for everyone to witness – the greatness of Indian technology. The Akash Missile Defence System has proved to be very effective in defending against the aerial attacks from Pakistan. The fact that is indigenously developed, puts India in a great place globally in terms of technology innovation and also as a potential seller of technology to friendly countries, aka, injecting dollars into the economy.

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Read More – Huawei, ZTE Face Ban in the US Owing to Security Challenges

India relying on its own technology to protect itself is a great thing as it strenthens the country’s capacity to self sustain in emergencies. In hindsight, the same can be said for the telecom infrastructure in India. The Government of India (GoI) had banned Chinese tech companies including Huawei and ZTE from being a part of the 5G ecosystem in India. Not only that, but the government even asked the telecom companies to remove all the Chinese gear/equipment from their networks in a phased manner.

In the short-term, this move proved to be costlier for the Indian telcos as Nokia and Ericsson, the European telecom gear giants offered equipment at a higher cost compared to the Chinese companies. Huawei and ZTE were key for the Indian telcos in rolling out 2G, 3G, and 4G in India. Thus, for 5G, the telcos had to partner at scale with companies they considered to be a costlier alternative.

Read More – EU Considers Mandatory Ban on Huawei and Other Security-Risk Companies in 5G Networks

Why is the Ban Good Though

If India ever goes to war with China, one that is similar to what’s going on between Pakistan and India, then having the Chinese companies as a part of the telecom infra is not a safe thing. China can effectively shut down networks, steal data and listen to conversations it shouldn’t be able to, if Chinese companies were a part of Indian telecom infra (note that this is a possibility, and no Chinese company has ever told TelecomTalk or to any other publication that it can do so).