India allegedly blacklists Chinese telecom firms

polaris1120

i never consider India as China's friend since it always treats our country as a rival.

global times

Speculation that India is targeting telecom equipment imports from China over security concerns was highlighted again after an Indian newspaper recently released a "blacklist" of temporarily banned telecom firms, nearly all of them from China, which contradicts the Indian government's repeated denials.

Both the Indian and Chinese governments declined to confirm the report to the Global Times Thursday.

Indian's Department of Telecommunications (DoT) said that it was not aware of the reported blacklist. China's Ministry of Commerce said it needed to confirm the report and the Economic and Commercial Counselor's Office of the Chinese embassy in India acknowledged that it is a sensitive issue, without further elaboration.

According to a copy obtained by India's Economic Times (ET), the list, which was prepared by the Intelligence Bureau (IB), features 26 companies, including 25 from China, such as Lenovo, Huawei Technologies, ZTE, Sunsea Telecoms, UT Starcom, Tongyu Communications, Wuhan Fibrehome International, Shenzhen Grentech, Maipu Communications.

The remaining firm on the list is Israel's Comverse.

The DoT's logic behind temporarily barring these 26 companies is that it doesn't have the wherewithal, yet, to either oversee the complete telecom equipment supply chain or do a security audit of mobile networks, and hence is in no position to assess the security implications of importing telecom equipment from Chinese and Israeli manufacturers on the IB list, the ET reported June 2, citing an internal note from the DoT.

Since 2005, India's home ministry has warned that foreign telecom equipment suppliers, especially Chinese, may install spyware and malware that could monitor voice and data traffic and bring down networks.

Last year, the Indian government banned all mobile phones without a proper unique identification number, and limits have been set on the number of overseas workers that can be employed on infrastructure projects.

Since February, 450 orders, worth over $2 billion, placed by Indian mobile-phone operators with the 26 companies on the blacklist, have not been cleared. All 27 telecom equipment orders that have been cleared so far were placed with Western firms such as Ericsson, Nokia Siemens and Alcatel-Lucent, the ET reported.

The Chinese government raised the issue of curbs on the use of Chinese telecom equipment in India during talks with the Indian Prime Minister's special envoy Shivshankar Menon this week.

Menon said Tuesday in Beijing after a four-day visit that India will soon announce an "open and non-discriminatory" policy for importing telecom equipment from any country, adding that the security concerns do not relate to a specific nation.

According to an announcement by China's Ministry of Commerce last month, the orders signed between Chinese telecom firms such as Huawei and ZET with Indian operators, totaling $5 billion, have been seriously affected since India enacted a series of security audit regulations.

No Chinese company has achieved security clearance for telecommunication equipment, which constitutes discrimination against Chinese products, the ministry said.

Fu Liang, an independent IT analyst, told the Global Times that the ban is a show of dislike by the Indian government toward Chinese products, as China and India are competing with each other fiercely on many fronts, including in the telecommunications sector.

However, he said Chinese manufacturers, such as Huawei and ZTE, should have been more transparent when trying to get access to overseas markets in their bid to win local trust.

Huawei and ZTE didn't make any direct comments on the issue to the Global Times Thursday, but they have carried out a series of emergency response activities in India. Huawei has submitted comprehensive confidence-building measures to address all security concerns, Kevin Zhang, Huawei Technologies vice president, global marketing department, told the ET.

The company has achieved an 85-90 percent localization of Indian engineers and management in various functions and is in the process of establishing an Indian corporate governance board comprising eminent Indian professionals who will advise Huawei India, the executive said.

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Covert protectionism

Shi Fenghai, deputy director of the China Information Industry Association (CIIA), told the Global Times Thursday that the Indian government's latest ban is a form of protectionism in the name of safety concerns.

"India is weak in telecom equipment production. Imposing a ban on Chinese products is aimed at protecting its own industry," Shi said, adding that the government fears that Chinese products will deal a crushing blow to their Indian counterparts.

Zheng Wenfu, an associate professor of business administration at the School of Economics and Management at Beijing University of Post and Telecommunications, told the Global Times that it is unwise for the Indian government to impose a ban on Chinese products that are affordable and of good quality.

ZTE India Chairman and Managing Director DK Ghosh said at the India-China Business Forum in Shanghai in June that disallowing Chinese firms to participate in Indian projects would mean no competition and hence high capital and operational costs for operators.

The Indian government's curb on Chinese telecom suppliers has delayed the network rollout plans of many mobile phone companies in India.

All new mobile operators rolling out telecom networks have chosen to partner with Chinese companies, the ET reported

polaris1120

global times

Although India has publicly assured that it is not banning Chinese telecom products, a recent Indian media report revealed that its government has a blacklist, which actually bars 25 Chinese telecom manufacturers in the name of security precautions.

The Chinese embassy in India Wednesday confirmed this.

Telecom equipment produced by big Chinese companies such as Huawei and ZTE have been exported to many countries and regions in the world and worked perfectly well without complaints about security glitches. Then why these worries in India when it comes to Chinese products, while other foreign brands such as Nokia and Siemens were given a green light?

The Indian government may not give a clear answer. But this is not the first time that the Indian government has raised its big stick against Chinese companies or products. By adopting protectionist measures against Chinese batteries, clothing, toys, electronics, motorcycles and even cars, the Indian government has been raising barriers against high-tech equipment from China in recent years.

It is understandable when the Indian government does this to promote its own industry, especially in certain manufacturing areas that have not grown strong enough to compete with international rivals.

But in the recent case of telecom equipment procurement worth $2 billion, how come other foreign brands were let in while Chinese products alone singled out for exclusion?

There is nothing unhealthy in India seeing China as a major competitor in the race to rise as a new star in Asia and the world. Competition often helps each side to come up with better products and services. But competition should be conducted in the open, not under the table.

There are a significant number of Indian outsourcing companies operating in China, but seldom has there been any complaint about discriminatory treatment.

Chinese telecom operations in India hire 90 percent of their employees locally. It was not only job opportunities they have provided, but also products priced lower than other foreign brands. Therefore, banning Chinese brands will not help either side.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reportedly called upon his government officials and the public to learn from a speech by Chinese Pre-mier Wen Jiabao, titled "Only an

But what Singh's administration has been doing is a disappointment.

Chinese people respect India as an admirable Asian neighbor, and have never been suspicious of its ambitions or jealous of its advancement in certain areas, such as the IT industry.

In contrast, India has not reciprocated with due respect or trust. Most disputes in recent years have started with suspicion or hostility on the Indian side, and China was forced to respond.

India should realize that it is unwise and impossible to try to contain the growth of its neighbor.

Both countries should believe that Asia is big enough to withstand and benefit from the rise of two powers.

manoj10

Economic times is publishing wrong data. This was never released by the Department of Telecommunications. Huawei, ZTE and other major Chinese firms are indeed working in Indian telecom operations. They are only not allowed to participate in 3G band orders. Other than that all other works of them are not stopped.

India had recently become alert after American intelligence reports that telecom products manufactured in Mainland China are prone to spyware installations especially the ones which has good contacts with PLA and Pakistan establishments.

manoj10

manoj10

Nokia also was not allowed to participate until it proved that it can import products which are not made in China. Chinese companies lost because their entire manufacturing hub was located in Mainland China or Pakistan which makes their case of less interests. If the Chinese companies have manufacturing hubs elsewhere they would have been allowed to participate. The same thing applied for the Israeli firm too.