Fri August, 2020, Age: 4 years
India is set to apply investment rules amended on July 23 to restrict bidders from nations it shares land borders with from upcoming 5G trials. These rules are targetted at keeping Huawei and ZTE specifically from investing in its next-generation telecommunications networks. The Ministry of Communications will soon restart pending discussions to approve 5G trials by private companies including Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio Infocomm, and Vodafone Idea that were delayed by the nationwide lockdown. Amid worsening relations and a June border dispute over the Aksai Chin region which turned violent, India made headlines last month for banning the Chinese-owned TikTok app. A final decision on the 5G ban is due to be announced in a week or two after approval from the prime minister’s office, according to government officials. This decision echoes actions by the US, UK and Australia to keep Huawei parts out of telecommunications networks deemed essential to national security. In the past months, the U.S. has embarked on a diplomatic campaign to encourage nations across Western and Eastern Europe, Africa, and Latin America to also exclude Huawei from government procurement lists.