Bringing a huge relief to Huawei, the Indian government has said that it has no plan to ban the Chinese brand's telecom equipment in the country yet.
The decision was revealed by telecom minister Manoj Sinha in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha and he also said that companies in India can buy equipment from any maker, as long as all the security requirements are fulfilled.
"At present, there is no proposal before the government considering banning telecom gear and equipment made by Huawei," Sinha said. Speaking of the security concerns that have of late dogged Huawei, the telecom minister also added that devices and equipments run the risk of malware and spyware attacks and that these concerns were not restricted to just Huawei devices.
"These spyware/malware are potential threats, if embedded in any telecom network elements by vendor or any other third-party source, which may damage the concerned network element causing disruption in services, infecting other network elements or leakage of information to unintended user," he explained.
However, he said that India is already aware of these concerns and puts forward mandatory security conditions in telecom licences.
Huawei is facing a ban in the US, Australia, New Zealand and Canada over security concerns, and the company has recently also made news for the arrest of its chief financial officer in Canada.
Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada on December 1 and a Canada Justice department official had said that the US Department of Justice had opened the investigation in April and was probing if the telecommunications brand sold gear to Iran despite a ban on exports to the region.
The US has been voicing concerns about Huawei operations since 2016, claiming that the brand could install back doors in their equipment, which would, in turn, let them monitor users of the device in the US.
Even though the brand had categorically denied these allegations, the Pentagon had stopped providing Huawei devices to its armed forces and retailer Best Buy too stopped the sale of Huawei products, reported Bloomberg.
Wanzhou was released on December 11 on a C$10 million ($7.5 million) bail. She has been ordered to wear an ankle monitor and stay at home from 11 pm to 6 am. Five of her friends have pledged equity in their homes as a guarantee she will not flee.
