Huawei India CEO Jay Chen says that the espionage allegations are politically-driven, and no country has been able to give any evidence of wrongdoing by the company.
Amid growing security concerns, Huawei India on Tuesday said it is awaiting an approval from the telecom department for conducting 5G trials in the country.
Speaking to reporters, Huawei India CEO Jay Chen said that the response so far has been positive from the telecom department. The company along with its telecom operator partners had submitted a joint application for 5G trials in December last year.
“We finished all presentations and are awaiting for the government approval,” ET quoted him as saying.
Chen also said that Huawei is currently engaged with all telcos for 5G trials in the country.
Huawei Security Concerns
Huawei has been facing scrutiny in many countries over espionage concerns. The US has asked its allies to ban 5G gear from Huawei, expressing concerns that its alleged link with the Chinese government could pose a national security threat.
So far, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and Australia have complied. However, Huawei maintains that there has been no evidence of any wrongdoing by the company and asked India to have its own judgement on the alleged snooping concerns.
“We have engagements with the DoT, PMO, MEITY and all other departments…We believe the security concerns are politically driven, globally. I had many interactions with the Indian government and nobody has told me yet that there’s a problem with our equipment,” Chen told reporters.
Chen further said that Huawei is ready to put up its “source code” for screening and testing to allay security concerns.
Allocation of Trial Spectrum
The rollout of 5G trials is getting delayed due to disagreement over the allocation of free spectrum for field trials.
While the current rules of the DoT allow allocation of trial spectrum only for three months (90 days), vendors and telcos have been demanding to increase the duration to at least one year.
