NEW DELHI: Sweden’s decision late last year to ban, on national security grounds, China’s telecom major Huawei (and ZTE) from offering 5G services has important lessons for India. Notable is the CEO of Swedish telecom company Ericsson defending Huawei! He was apparently driven by concerns of reprisals by China where Ericsson runs a very profitable operation.
“I hope there will be no impact,” Borje Ekholm was quoted in the Swedish media as saying, pointing out that “China accounts for eight per cent of our revenue. For us, it has been a strategically important issue to be present in China.”
But the impact on his company’s bottom line may not have been his only concern. Implicit was the fear that China could retaliate by even detaining Swedish nationals working for Ericsson in China.
India has not banned either Huawei or ZTE. Both companies continue to do business in India despite the adverse environment in the wake of clashes in Ladakh last year. The Indian government is also advising state telecom companies to not buy Huawei or any Chinese equipment. A “trusted source” list is being drawn up by the government to ensure future procurement of telecom equipment excludes Chinese suppliers. Of course, China is not mentioned even by name and just to make sure, there is unlikely to be an official government ban on Huawei or ZTE. This is to ensure Huawei does not take recourse to the Indian courts and stymie plans for a 5G rollout by Indian firms.
The latter seems to be gathering pace in the new year. Bharti Airtel’s demonstration in Hyderabad of this new technology using Ericsson equipment came as a complete surprise, given that the company wanted 5G roll-out to be postponed. So the expectation was Reliance Jio with its claimed home-grown 5G technology, was far ahead and the only one in the running.
IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad’s remarks last week that the “core network should be Indian,” even triggered speculation in the industry that Prasad was showing preference for the Reliance Jio technology. The minister had also said: “We lagged in 2G, 3G and 4G but in 5G India should move at a speed faster than the world with made in India 5G. We have made a test-bed and we are soon going to permit it.”
But Prasad also said: “I urge all the private sectors including other operators, NICSI (National Informatics Centre Services) to rise to the occasion, to understand, adopt, innovate the emerging contours of 5G… it is not only communication technology but it is disrupting technology and will create new avenues.”
So wait and watch. In the meantime, media reports suggest September could see a possible limited roll-out even though the groundwork in terms of allocating 5G spectrum is yet to be done. Nor is there any word on whether the TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India)–mandated reserve price for 5G spectrum of Rs 492 crore per unit, could be eased given complaints from the telecom companies that it is too high.
On the other hand, two government entities have reportedly agreed to give up the 5G preferred airwaves they are sitting on. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Defence Ministry were cited in various media reports as indicating they would vacate airwaves in the 3300-3600 Mhz range. They apparently hold a total of 125 units in this band which is deemed ideal for operating 5G services. The same reports said ISRO wanted an assurance that no 5G tower or base station would come up within 10 km of any of its satellite hubs. ISRO had voiced fears in the past that its satellite communications could be affected by 5G. Industry is not happy with that. Perhaps, it may be worthwhile to find out how other countries (with space programmes) are doing it.
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