After being shunned by a slew of countries out of fears its equipment may facilitate Chinese government spying, telecom giant Huawei, represented by CEO Jay Chen said on Monday that the company is willing to sign up to a “no backdoor” agreement with India.
The comments, made by the company’s India CEO Jay Chen to Reuters on the sidelines of the ongoing India Mobile Congress, comes as the South Asian nation readies itself for a rollout of next-generation 5G mobile networks.
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“From the very beginning, I have confidence that Indian industry, the India market will welcome Huawei because I have contributed a lot with my unique value,” Chen said. “I am ready to sign [a no-backdoor agreement].”
“If [the Indian] government wants, we are open to having the source codes in an escrow account,” Chen said, adding that the company was also willing to manufacture more of its telecoms gear locally.
Indian telecom carriers Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea have used Huawei, as well as its European rivals Nokia and Ericsson, to build their 2G, 3G and 4G networks and have previously underscored the importance of having all three players in India to maintain competition, price and service quality.
India has the second-most internet users of any country in the world, behind China. That number is expected to rise 11% to 627 million people in 2019, according to market research firm Kantar IMRB. The vast majority access the web on mobile devices, and scoring the deal would be a huge win for Huawei.
In August, China issued a warning to impose “reverse sanctions” on India if the country decided to ban Huawei from conducting business in India. We’re still awaiting the Indian government’s decision. Th5g5e decision will depend upon a lot of factors as Huawei has faced a ban not only in the US but in New Zealand and Australia as well.
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(Source)
