The Department of Telecom could begin providing spectrum to telcos willing to participate in 5G trials as early as September, as it seeks to kick off a process that takes at least six months of tests before the actual auctions can become, according to a report by CNBC-TV18.
Citing an unnamed DoT official, the report says that while testing was originally scheduled for March and then delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it will now take place by September. In addition, Huawei is almost certainly going to be excluded from trials, following a DoT committee recommendation to bar Chinese equipment from the same.
While Indian telcos will be unable to partner with Huawei, their options include players like Nokia, Samsung and Ericsson. In the case of Reliance Jio, while the firm has listed Samsung as its partner, it is also working on its own in-house 5G technology.
While Bharti Airtel has said it would conduct trials in partnership with Samsung, Nokia, Huawei and Ericsson, Vodafone-Idea filed to partner with Huawei, ZTE, Ericsson and Nokia, PTI reported in January. Bharti Airtel CEO Gopal Vittal on July 30 said the company would abide by the laws of the land in case the government chose to ban Chinese vendors.
Trader's body CAIT recently wrote to the Union Minister for Communications Ravi Shankar Prasad calling for Huawei and ZTE to be barred from 5G trials in India.
The rollout of 5G in India was expected to take several years well before the India-China border tensions made dismal the likelihood of Huawei being permitted to participate in trials.
Amid a global movement with the US and among its allies to bar Huawei’s 5G technology—till now believed to be the most deployed. According to Counterpoint Research, Chines companies captured 46 per cent of the global 5G market in 2019.
Experts speaking on the 5G rollout in India had noted the need to increase fiberization of cell phone towers—of which only 25-30 per cent were fiberized as of December 2019and speculated that it would take 5-6 years to reach the masses.
