India Telecom Market Needs a Fair Environment

Author: Du Juan Source: Cww

Summary: It now appears that these reports should be true, and if so, like Huawei, ZTE has indeed suffered unfair treatment
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Foreign media have long reported on the discrimination against Chinese telecommunications equipment manufacturers by Indian telecom operators and the Indian government, but this is not new. However, as reports have increased, the social impact has grown stronger. After all, these reports are not groundless; there are basic facts to support them: in March this year, Huawei's investment application submitted to the Indian government has not yet been approved; in June this year, the Indian Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) rejected ZTE's plan to increase its stake in its Indian subsidiary on security grounds; and this time, according to local Indian media reports, among the five companies — Ericsson, Nokia, Motorola, ZTE, and Siemens — that participated in Indian operator BSNL's GSM mobile network expansion procurement, ZTE and Motorola were the first to be eliminated, for no other reason than that ZTE is a Chinese company and Motorola would procure some equipment from Chinese companies.

Of course, BSNL's official explanation for the elimination of ZTE and Motorola was that "these two companies did not meet the technical standards they required." This explanation is hardly tenable, because since they were allowed to participate in the bidding, they had already passed a long period of evaluation, and technical standards — the most basic issue — would naturally have been considered by the operator long ago. Moreover, since the five companies were able to compete, their technical capabilities were naturally on par with one another. Therefore, Motorola filed a lawsuit with the Delhi High Court immediately after the bidding results were announced, expressing "surprise and grave concern" over BSNL's decision, and stating that through the lawsuit it would seek "fairness and transparency in the bidding process" regarding "why it was disqualified during the technical review stage."

Regarding this bidding, ZTE has actually maintained a low profile in China, with little response to the numerous foreign media reports. However, in my opinion, it now appears that these reports should be true, and if so, like Huawei, ZTE has indeed suffered unfair treatment.

I once consulted experts about the Indian telecom equipment market. It is said that in recent years, the Indian market has become a major battleground for numerous equipment manufacturers. In terms of results, Ericsson and ZTE can be considered the most important forces. ZTE, from system equipment to mobile terminals, has cooperated with some Indian operators, so it is clearly questionable to claim that ZTE's equipment fails to meet technical standards.

So what is the survival situation of the major equipment manufacturers in the Indian market? It is said that as an emerging market in the overseas arena, competition among manufacturers in India has become quite fierce, most directly reflected in pricing. An insider from a manufacturer once said that Ericsson, Nokia, Siemens, and others were all competing on price during bidding. In fact, the equipment quotes from these multinational giants were even much lower than those from ZTE and Huawei. Competing under such circumstances requires an even fairer and more just environment. But as it stands now, the investment environment in the Indian telecom market is indeed concerning.