India invites Huawei to take part in 5G trials

New Delhi, Oct 5 : Putting speculation about its participation in India's 5G roll-out process to rest, Chinese telecom giant Huawei on Friday said it has received an invitation from the Department of Telecommunications to take part in the trials for development of 5G use cases in India.

Huawei said it received the DoT letter on September 27, within two days of the cabinet approving the new "National Digital Communications Policy 2018".

"We appreciate India's collaborative and open approach towards Huawei. The country is on the right track to develop 5G network and Huawei remains committed to adding value to the services that roll out of this technology would unleash," Jay Chen, CEO of Huawei India told IANS.

Huawei's participation in India's 5G roll out process has been keenly observed following reports last month that suggested that the company, along with another Chinese player ZTE, was excluded from the list of companies that were selected by DoT to participate in 5G trial of use cases.

China last month urged India to provide a "level playing field" to Chinese telecom companies Huawei and ZTE.

Huawei said it could start the trials for 5G use cases in India as early as end of this year and that they could run for three to four quarters.

"Huawei's leading technology and world-class solutions customised for Indian specific needs are recognised by the Indian government and industry," Chen said. 

"Through the proposed trials, Huawei plans to contribute for development of timely and high-quality 5G technology and use cases that will enable social and economic development in India for consumers and industry," he added. 

Huawei said it would collaborate with the industry, academia and the state governments for the 5G trials which would start after the allocation of spectrum and other formalities are completed.

Huawei's trial for 5G use cases would include areas such as enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and wireless to the x (WTTx) -- an advanced wireless broadband access solution proposed by Huawei -- among others.

"The discourse on telecommunication in India has changed from availability and affordability to that of quality and improved customer experience. With India's emphasis on adoption of emerging technologies, the country is set to become the most dynamic market in the world in the next five years," Chen said.

Huawei, which is now nearing two decades of operations in India, earlier this year successfully conducted the country's first 5G network trial under a test set-up in collaboration with telecom major Bharti Airtel.

The set-up demonstrated high spectral efficiency and potential for diversified services such as Internet of Things (IoT) and AR/VR, which can be delivered by 5G technology to serve a digitally connected world, Huawei said.

"The telecom industry in India is now full of hope. In this market, we have also seen something new which we have not seen in other markets. India has an operator which has a very long-term vision to incorporate in its ecosystem diverse services - from the pipe to digital services and even offline and traditional services. In other countries these functions are performed by different stakeholders," Chen said, referring to the services of Reliance Jio.

"If this business model succeeds, it will give Indian economy a huge boost," he added.