Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE have long supplied leading Indian mobile operators with telecom equipment. During Huawei's deployment in Indian mobile networks, government officials documented at least one Huawei espionage operation. Recent publicly reported espionage cases against Huawei in other countries added fuel to Indian officials' suspicions of Huawei. With increasing Chinese military activity on the border with India and declining public opinion of China, the Indian government has signaled telecom operators to avoid Chinese vendors.
India has four major mobile operators - Jio (Reliance), Airtel (Bharti), Vi (Vodaphone Idea), and BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited - a state-owned enterprise) [1]. Jio does not use Huawei or ZTE. BSNL uses equipment from both Huawei and ZTE, whereas Airtel and Vi use equipment from Huawei for their 2G/3G/4G networks [2], [3].
In 2014, Huawei infiltrated BSNL's network, impacting a small number of cell towers. As per [4], Huawei carried out the operation in retaliation for BSNL selecting ZTE as a supplier. The hack's intent - whether to collect information on ZTE or to frame ZTE as an unreliable supplier - is unclear. However, the incident underlines Huawei's willingness to go beyond legal avenues to further its goals.
Several other countries have publicly attributed espionage activities to Huawei [4a]. Indian regulators, decision-makers, and thought-leaders have taken notice of news on Huawei in these countries.
Indian government officials have long been suspicious of Chinese companies, given tension along the long Himalayan border between India and China. In 2009, the Indian government temporarily disallowed BSNL from deploying equipment from Chinese vendors in some Indian states. The government did not trust the Chinese vendors to stay out of Indian affairs or keep information generated in India out of the hands of the Chinese government. The restriction on BSNL was eventually removed in 2010 [5].
While the Himalayan border had mainly been quiet for several decades, China's expansionism in the area led to several clashes between the Indian and Chinese army starting 2017 and leading into 2021. Some of these clashes involved loss of life. In one incident in June 2020, 20 Indian soldiers died in a Chinese ambush in the Ladakh region of India [3], [6].
The Himalayan clashes forced the Indian government to re-evaluate its relationship with the Chinese government and Chinese companies. In 2020, Indian banned 59 Chinese mobile applications from operating in India. The list included TikTok and WeChat. The general idea of the ban was to prevent Chinese propaganda from spreading in India. The ban also signals India's intention to take a harder line on its Chinese policies [3].
China's 2020 border intrusions in the Himalayas seem to have been timed to take advantage of the spread of COVID-19 in India. The infiltration was initiated in June 2020 as the Indian government was attempting to contain COVID-19. News outlets in India covered the forced splitting of Indian resources between defending the border and fighting COVID-19 [6a].
Separately, public opinion on China shifted in India as people realized China had suppressed information on COVID-19 when the pandemic was in its early phases [7], [8].
As a result, the vast majority of the Indian population agreed with the ban on Chinese mobile applications and contracts to Chinese companies operating in India [9].
As of this writing, India has not banned Huawei or ZTE outright from operating in India. However, the government has signaled its displeasure with the Chinese government, Chinese state-directed companies such as Huawei, and Chinese state-owned enterprises such as ZTE. As a result, all four of the major mobile operators in India distanced themselves from Huawei and ZTE, at least up to a point [10], [11], [12], [13], [14].
In May 2021, the Indian government authorized four companies - Jio, Airtel, Vi, and MTNL (another state-owned enterprise with a smaller footprint than BSNL) - to initiate 5G trials. These four operators could use telecom equipment from Nokia, Ericsson, Samsung, and auxiliary equipment from some other vendors. However, Huawei and ZTE were not named as allowed vendors for the trial. They were not banned explicitly either. Regardless, ongoing 5G trials without Huawei and ZTE's participation constitutes a de-facto ban on the two companies with Indian mobile operators [15].
The Indian government is formalizing equipment vendors allowed to provide equipment to Indian telecom operators [15]. Thus far, 5G vendors Nokia and Ericsson, have been approved via this process. Cisco and India-based Tejas have also been approved. Huawei and ZTE appear to have partially engaged with the India approval process. Still, they have not been formally approved as allowed vendors [16].
[1]: List of Telecom Companies in India. Wikipedia. (Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_telecom_companies_in_India#Mobile_operators on) November 12, 2021.
[2]: BSNL's 44% mobile network equipment from ZTE, 9% from Huawei. The Times of India. September 17, 2020.
[3]: The 5G Question and India's Conundrum. Harsh Pant and Aarshi Tirkey. Orbis. September 25, 2020.
[4]: Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei allegedly hacked BSNL network: Govt. The Indian Express. February 5, 2014.
[4a]: India's decision on Huawei, ZTE may have been shaped by "espionage acts" globally. Dipanjan Roy. The Economic Times. May 22, 2021.
[5]: BSNL can buy equipment from Chinese vendors: Govt. The Economic Times. August 19, 2010.
[6]: A 3D deep dive into the India–China border dispute. Baani Grewal and Nathan Ruser. Australian Strategic Policy Institute. October 21, 2021.
[6a]: Galwan clash 'huge mistake' by China, world already fighting Covid-19: Experts. The Hindustan Times. June 27, 2020.
[7]: China's Covid Secrets. Frontline. Public Broadcasting Service. February 2, 2021.
[8]: Indians Aren't Buying China's Narrative. Yasmeen Serhan. The Atlantic. April 20, 2020.
[9]: Enemy number one. India Today. August 8, 2020.
[10]: India moves to cut Huawei gear from telecoms network. Amy Kazmin and Stephanie Findlay. The Financial Times. August 24, 2020.
[11]: India is reportedly phasing out Huawei equipment from its networks. Corinne Reichert. CNET. August 24, 2020.
[12]: India likely to block China's Huawei over security fears: officials. Aftab Ahmed and Sankalp Phartiyal. Reuters. March 11, 2021.
[13]: Don't Underestimate India's Sidelining of Huawei. Justin Sherman. The Diplomat. September 17, 2020.
[14]: The Huawei Factor in US-India Relations. Arindrajit Basu and Justin Sherman. The Diplomat. March 22, 2021.
[15]: Huawei and ZTE left out of India's 5G trials. BBC. May 5, 2021.
[16]: Nokia, Ericsson, Tejas and Cisco get trusted sources nod; Huawei, ZTE yet to complete documentation. Danish Khan. The Economic Times. November 11, 2021.
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