India is set to become the latest country to ban Chinese telecoms vendors Huawei and ZTE from its 5G networks.
New rules will prevent any bids from countries which India shares a land border with under amended investment rules that cite concerns over national security.
Earlier this year, a brutal clash between Chinese and Indian troops at a decades-old disputed Himalayan border left a trail of fatalities – many soldiers were beaten to death with barbed wire clubs, or fell from narrow paths.
Relations between China and India have been tense since that incident. The rest of the world has been watching and praying that a war does not break out between the nuclear powers in a region which former US President Bill Clinton once described as “the most dangerous place in the world”.
India’s amended investment rules are currently awaiting approval from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and are expected to be announced within one or two weeks.
Last week, a poll of experts said the UK’s ban of Huawei will not put the country “into the digital slow lane,” as the company has warned. An Indian ban on Huawei’s equipment would also follow the likes of the US, Japan, Taiwan, Australia, and New Zealand.
India is one of the most important telecoms markets in the world. The country has around 1.2 billion mobile connections, the highest average data use per customer at 9.8GB/month, and around 900 million people currently unconnected for future growth potential.
A ban will undoubtedly be a disappointment for Huawei which is finding itself in the crosshairs due to global political relation deteriorations with China over matters such as the coronavirus, Hong Kong, trade disputes, and the detention of Uighur Muslims in barbaric “re-education” camps.
However, what’s bad for Huawei will be good for rivals. In late June, Singapore became the latest to say it will use equipment from Ericsson and Nokia for its 5G networks.
Just yesterday, Ericsson hit the impressive milestone of 100 commercial 5G agreements. We have a feeling that number will soon be even higher.
(Photo by Ishant Mishra on Unsplash)
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