Traders' body CAIT demands ban on China's Huawei, ZTE from India 5G rollout

The traders' body has written a letter in this regard to Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on Sunday urged the government to not allow Chinese firms Huawei and ZTE to participate in 5G network rollout in India, raising concerns on data security.

The traders' body has written a letter in this regard to Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.
The 5G refers to the next-generation mobile networks that promise super-fast download speeds and the ability to support critical infrastructure and, therefore, is more critical from the point of accruing data, it said.

"We may like to mention that in several countries both Huawei and ZTE Corporation have been charged with a laundry list of crimes including conspiracy, money laundering, bank and wire fraud.

"We are sure that our above request will be considered by you and necessary decision will be taken to protect not only the security of the country but also the privacy of the people of India through data and as such both Huawei and ZTE Corporation will not be allowed to participate in 5G network rollout in India," CAIT said in the letter to Prasad.

E-mails sent by PTI to Huawei India and ZTE India did not elicit any response till the time of filing the story.

US Federal Communications Commission recently designated Chinese firms Huawei and ZTE as "national security threats", saying the major step was aimed at protecting American communications networks from security risks.

After Mitron app, Google takes down 'Delete China Apps' from Play Store

Remove China Apps gained popularity because of a growing anti-China sentiment due to Himalayan border dispute between India and China.

Google has pulled down the ‘Delete China Apps’ app from its application distribution platform Play Store for Android devices. Though the search giant did not detail the reason, it is learned that the app was taken down for violating Google Play Store’s Deceptive Behaviour Policy, according to a news report in TechCrunch.

Developed by Jaipur-based app development and web designing start-up OneTouchAppLabs, the Remove China Apps gained popularity in India largely because of a growing anti-China sentiment due to border dispute between India and China in the Pangong region of higher Himalayas. Launched in April, the app soon became the top free app and the top trending app on Google app store. It had crossed a million downloads within a short span of 15 days, and had a 4.8 star rating out of 5 star on the Play Store before it was taken down.

Earlier on May 2, Google also pulled down the Mitron app from the Play Store for not conforming to platform’s ‘Spam and Minimum Functionality Policy’.

Confirmed the suspension of the app, Google said that it takes down duplicate apps that copy content from other apps without adding any original content or value and create multiple apps with highly similar functionality, content, and user experience.

The Mitron app was seen as a TikTok alternative with Indian roots. It was one of the most downloaded apps on Google Play Store and had clocked more than five million downloads from Play Store.

The call to block Chinese apps and products has been growing on social media platform. Recently, Baba Ramdev tweeted a video that showed deleting TikTok and other apps with Chinese affiliation.