On the other hand, India has called on the technological support of other big international names in the sector, including the Swedish Ericsson, the Finnish Nokia and the South Korean Samsung.
Indeed, the climate of mistrust continues to hover over relations between the two Asian giants. Bilateral ties have seriously deteriorated after the outbreak of the border conflict in the Himalayan heights, rich in water and minerals, in June 2020, leaving several deaths in both ranks.
As troops gather on the India-China border, a full-scale economic war has broken out. Demand for Chinese products is plummeting. Xiaomi is no longer the best-selling phone in India, Samsung has replaced it, while selling Chinese products through Southeast Asian free trade agreements is now becoming difficult.
Similarly, the Indian government had banned around a hundred mobile applications of Chinese origin including TikTok, AliExpress, WeChat and Baidu which, according to New Delhi, engage in activities “prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of the country, to defense, to state security and to public order.”
In response, China’s Ministry of Commerce noted that “the Indian government’s actions not only harm the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese investors and service providers, but also the interests of Indian consumers and the country’s investment environment as an open economy.”
In this same line of technological confrontation, comes India’s decision to exclude any cooperation with the Chinese in the deployment of the 5th generation of mobile networks.
From now on, the trials on the use and applications of 5G technology, authorized for a period of six months, will be conducted only by the four Indian telecom heavyweights: Bharti Airtel and Reliance JioInfoComm, the Indian subsidiary of Vodafone (Vodafone Idea) and the public operator MTNL, according to a statement from the Indian government.
These operators will rely on several equipment manufacturers and technology suppliers including Ericsson, Nokia, South Korea’s Samsung and C-DOT, the Indian government’s research and development centre.
The trials aim to test “the propagation characteristics of the 5G spectrum” but also to evaluate models of the equipment and suppliers chosen, test local technology and applications such as telemedicine, tele-education, augmented/virtual reality or even agricultural surveillance by drone.
China’s Huawei and ZTE, whose participation in 5G development is being questioned in several countries over national security concerns, are the biggest absentees from the Indian list.
Indeed, several countries including Australia, the United Kingdom and Sweden have shown reluctance towards Chinese technology and have banned Huawei from almost all of the construction of their very high-speed mobile internet networks.
According to specialist consultancy CCS Insights, China will account for more than half of all 5G users by 2022 and is also expected to dominate until 2025, when it could account for 40% of global 5G connections.
The planet’s most populous country is already the world’s largest smartphone market and also has the largest 4G market, with 843.7 million subscribers.
Based on a 5G study, published by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, China’s aggressive investments in 5G infrastructure will soon be the key to the country’s status as the world’s largest 5G market, unless India with its 1.3 billion people challenges as it did with 2G and 4G.
As of now, India is lagging far behind its northern neighbour in 5G. The Indian government is addressing the issues related to high spectrum prices and limited availability/usage.
In a context of antagonistic interests, political stretching and the quest for hegemony, the climate of suspicion and mistrust seems set to reign for a long time on both sides.
2024-09-14 22:55:47