Pompeo declares Reliance Jio 'clean' for spurning Huawei telecom gear

Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani had told US President Donald Trump during his February visit to India that Jio was the only network in the world to not have a single Chinese component.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has declared Reliance Jio a "clean" network for not using the Chinese company Huawei's equipment, keeping it safe from Beijing's intelligence intrusions.

Listing Jio among the "world's leading" telecom operators, Pompeo said on Wednesday that it was one of the "Clean Telcos" for spurning Huawei, which he called a part of the "Chinese Communist Party (CCP) infrastructure."

Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani had told US President Donald Trump during his February visit to India that Jio was the only network in the world to not have a single Chinese component.

Jio is reportedly trying the 'swadeshi' route for 5G and has applied to the Department of Telecommunications for permission to carry out lab tests for the technology without third-party participation.

Facebook announced a $5.7 billion investment in Jio in April.

Pompeo said that by Jio along with some other Canadian, British and French telecoms was "disconnecting from the Chinese Communist Party infrastructure" by not using Huawei equipment.

"They are rejecting doing business with tools of the CCP surveillance state, companies like Huawei," he added while speaking to the media before the release of the State Department's annual terrorism report.

The US campaign against the Chinese telecom equipment manufacturer over fears its gear can be used for espionage has intensified as the company begins its push into the next-generation 5G networks.

Jeff Bezos bets on 'Indian century', gives MSMEs $1-billion push

Commits to exporting $10 billion India-made goods by 2025.

Amazon.com Inc Founder and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos said on Wednesday that his company would invest an additional $1 billion (about Rs 7,000 crore) to help bring small businesses online in India, and also committed to using the retail giant’s “size, scope and scale” to export $10 billion of made-in-India goods by 2025.

Bezos’ India visit — for the maiden edition of his firm’s micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME)-focussed event, Amazon Smbhav — comes at a time when the Competition Commission of India (CCI) is probing his company, as well as Walmart-owned Flipkart, on complaints of deep discounting practices and tie-ups with preferred sellers.

Seeking to reach out to critics, Bezos, donning traditional Indian attire, said his company was committed to being a long-term partner of India.

“Actions speak louder than words,” he added, addressing a packed house in New Delhi.

“We’re making this announcement now because it’s working...When something works, you should double down on it.

I want to make a prediction for you. I predict that the 21st century is going to be the Indian century. The dynamism, the energy… everywhere I go here, I meet people who are working in self-improvement and growth. This country has something special, democracy,” he said.

“I make one more prediction for you: In this 21st century, the most important alliance is going to be the alliance between India and the US,” Jeff Bezos added. The firm aims to digitise 10 million MSMEs with the proposed investment. In addition to providing training and enrolling MSMEs into its programmes, Amazon will help them work on cloud technology through specialised Amazon Web Services offerings at low costs. It will also establish 100 “digital haats’ in cities and villages throughout India.

Huawei likely to conduct trial runs of 5G waves for Airtel, Vodafone

Sources said both Airtel and Vodafone have also joined ZTE, Nokia and Ericsson, apart from Huawei, for conducting the 5G trials.

Company News : Chinese telecommunications equipment maker Huawei is expected to conduct 5G trials for Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, sources said, as the central government finalises the trial runs before the spectrum auctions.

Sources said both Airtel and Vodafone have also joined ZTE, Nokia and Ericsson, apart from Huawei, for conducting the 5G trials. Reliance Jio will rope in South Korean equipment maker Samsung.

State-owned BSNL is also likely to go with ZTE. The firms have submitted applications for 5G trials, industry sources said.

The Chinese firm had had come under a cloud after there were allegations that its electronic and telecom devices helped China to spy on US corporations and agencies. The firm has been barred in Australia and Japan, but welcomed in Russia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

The central government had even constituted a committee headed by its principal scientific advisor to decide on Huawei’s participation in the 5G trials. The trials would establish use cases in the country as a precursor to the full-fledged launch of 5G services.

However, last month, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had said the government will allocate airwaves to all telecom service providers for conducting trials of super-fast 5G network, and will not bar any equipment suppliers in the trials. The stance had spelt relief for Chinese telecom gear maker Huawei, which rivals western equipment makers such as Ericsson and is facing curbs in the US.

Huawei India CEO Jay Chen had earlier stated the company firmly believes that only technology innovations and high-quality networks will be the key to rejuvenating the Indian telecom industry.

“We have our full confidence in the [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi government to drive 5G in India. We have our full confidence in Indian government and industry to partner with best technology for India’s own long-term benefit and also for cross-industry development,” Chen had recently said.

Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea oppose free spectrum to railways

Reliance Jio said the Railways should not be permitted to offer commercial services like Wi-fi and voice and video communication.

Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, and Vodafone Idea have in tandem opposed allocation of the premium 700 MHz spectrum to Indian Railways for Wi-Fi and signaling purposes, citing the commercial value of such airwaves and their potential to earn revenue for the government.

The industry has said spectrum allotted to the Railways for captive use should not be utilised for commercial services for passengers (Wi-Fi and internet offerings) as such services should be kept for entities that hold a valid licence.

Reliance Jio said the Railways should not be permitted to offer commercial services like Wi-fi and voice and video communication, without obtaining authorisation under the Unified Licence. It should obtain spectrum for commercial use via auction like all other interested parties.

“We do not agree with the Indian Railways demand for reserving 15 MHz spectrum in the 700 Mhz spectrum band for LTE (long term evolution) based communication corridor. The spectrum in the 700 Mhz band should not be allocated to the Railways for radiocommunication systems between train and trackside (RSTT) due to its commercial use and being a backbone band for 4G-5G services,” Reliance Jio said in its response to the regulatory consultation paper.

Suitable allocation for such captive use should be in the 450-470 MHz spectrum band, it felt.

“The department of telecom (DoT) has rightly noted that considering the limited spectrum available in the 700 MHz band and the fact that this digital dividend spectrum has immense potential for coverage in wide and rural areas, the spectrum for Indian Railways may be explored beyond this band and that the spectrum in the 450-470 MHz seems most suitable for this purpose,” Jio said.

The operator, however, termed as “valid and legitimate”, the Railways’ requirements to provide mission-critical passenger safety services and applications, video surveillance through close circuit cameras in trains, along with video analytics.

“The Railways is a commercial organisation and it can very well take the requisite licences and auction acquired spectrum to offer commercial services like Wi-fi... to its customers under the applicable licence and service terms and conditions,” Jio said.

Business Standard