The Indian boss of ZTE said banning Chinese vendors from telecoms contracts in India would force up the cost of networks and burden operators.

 

"If Chinese telecom equipment companies are not allowed to operate in India, the cost of such a scenario will be borne by the consumers, as the lack of healthy competition in the telecom sector will lead to extra costs….for the telecom operator," ZTE India chairman and managing director D.K Ghosh told a conference in Shanghai attended by Business Standard. 

 

The paper reported that ZTE and Huawei are finding it difficult to ease security concerns of the Home Ministry, even though the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and operators are pressing the ministry not to lock Chinese vendors out of contracts.

 

State-owned Indian telco BSNL last month blocked Huawei and ZTE from bidding for $426 million in GSM contracts, citing a government directive.

 

The decision to exclude the two big Chinese vendors escalates a diplomatic and trade row between India and China, sparked in April when the DoT told operators that it would not give security approval for Chinese equipment purchases. 

 

“While discussions and communication with the government is still on, we are sure that we will be getting a positive response from the government,” Ghosh said on the ongoing security issues.