By Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Tuesday said that while foreign direct investment (FDI) and innovations were welcome in the telecom sector of the country, there would be no compromise on safety and security.
“We are not against FDI, we are not against foreign innovative minds. They are most welcome, FDI is 100 per cent automatic … foreign capital is welcome, foreign innovation is welcome, but we are equally keen that safety and security of the country is also important,” Prasad said at the India Mobile Congress, adding that all such digital technologies had to be safe so that “vested interests, extremists may not abuse it”.
His comments on 5G come even as two of the biggest private telecom players different on the roll-out of the technology and its development process. While Mukesh Ambani said his company Reliance Jio would launch indigenous 5G services in India by second half of 2021, Bharti Airtel’s CEO Gopal Vittal said that developing an India specific 5G standard would be an “existential threat”, which could lock the country out of global ecosystem.
Next gen 5G equipment at Nokia unit
New Delhi: Nokia said Tuesday it had started the production of next generation 5G technology equipment from its plant in Chennai. These equipment will be exported to countries that are in advanced stage of 5G deployment, the company said in a statement.
Earlier in April, Nokia had signed a multi-year agreement with Airtel to deploy its SRAN solution across 9 circles.
