Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, telecom operators, are likely to file additional applications seeking spectrum for 5G trials. Chinese vendors, Huawei and ZTE, will not be included in the application, say sources. This decision is taken in regard with the displeasure of the government to include Chinese companies in any projects amid the border standoff between the two nations and can have security implications.
An official privy to the old development said, “Bharti Airtel has said that it will file an additional application for 5G trials which will not have the names of Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE as its partners. Vodafone Idea is also expected to do the same.”
Huawei was named as Bharti Airtel’s partner for the 5G trials in Bengaluru and ZTE in Kolkata. Both the applications named Nokia and Ericsson as partners too.
