Amid spying concerns, Japan urges India to restrict growing footprint of Huawei

India is looking at ways to check the growing footprint of Chinese telecom giant Huawei, after security concerns due to the use of telecom equipment from the Shenzen-based company were impressed upon Indian officials by Japanese government during deliberations between the two countries in the last week of February.

A report in Japanese publication Nikkei Asian Review cites high-level officials from India saying that India was actively considering keeping Huawei out of crucial 5G projects in the border areas, while giving it a regular run in the rest of the country.

The decision is said to have been agreed in principal during a meeting in Tokyo between Japanese and Indian officials. The third round of bilateral talks on cyber security between the two countries, the discussions were attended by officials from the Union Home Ministry and the Ministry of External Affairs.

India is set to roll out 5G technology in 2020, as per the government. The telecom equipment from Huawei, particularly the 5G switches, are much lesser in price than equipment from other companies, which gives the Chinese company a steep advantage over its competitors, as per cyber security experts.

Concerns over Huawei’s close links to China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and subsequent allegations of spying using the Chinese company’s equipment have led to the telecom company being banned in five countries, including US, Japan and Australia, among others.

Explaining the risks associated with Huawei telecom equipment, cyber-expert from Sydney-based Australian Strategic Institute wrote in the Australian media last month, “…beyond what we'd call "legitimate" government espionage targets, China has engaged in the cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property, trade secrets, and commercial-in-confidence material from Western companies such as BHP, Rio Tinto, Fortescue Metals, Yahoo, Google and many more.”

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had even warned America’s allies last month that Huawei’s presence in countries with close strategic ties to the US could “complicate” their ties with America. He had said, “We want to make sure we identify (to) them the opportunities and the risks of using that equipment.

However, the concerns have had little bearing on Huawei’s India’s operations, where the company is in the process of setting-up 1,000 stores across the country as part of a $100 million ambitious push to get into the mobile phone market. Huawei sells phones under the brand name Honor in the Indian market.

The net worth of Indian telecom market was projected to be $37 billion in 2017, a figure likely to grow to $103.9 billion by 2020, as per a study by research company Market Research Store.