The statement does not name Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE, an omission taken to mean that they will be excluded from consideration.
A Reuters report says that India will allow mobile carriers to carry out 5G trials with equipment makers including Ericsson of Sweden, Nokia of Finland and Samsung of South Korea.
The country’s three main carriers, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea, will carry out the trials.
According to TechCrunch, Wang Xiaojian at the Chinese Embassy in India said: “Relevant Chinese companies have been operating in India for years, providing mass job opportunities and making contribution to India’s infrastructure construction in telecommunications.”
Wang said: “To exclude Chinese telecommunications companies from the trials will not only harm their legitimate rights and interests, but also hinder the improvement of the Indian business environment, which is not conducive to the innovation and development of related Indian industries.”
There is no official ban on Huawei or ZTE, but the agency reports that two government officials told it in March, that the Indian government is likely to block mobile operators from using equipment made by Huawei, under procurement rules due to come into force in June.
The trials — which will last six months — aim to test 5G gear and technology in different environments, said Reuters.
