Washington: The Telecom Department of India approved the applications filed by the telecom companies Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and MTNL to conduct 5G trials, last week. The Indian Telecom Department approved the companies which are not using technology of Chinese entities.

According to the US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price, at his daily media briefing on Tuesday, said this was a sovereign decision on the part of the Indian Government. So we refer you to the Government of India for any comment on that decision.

India’s recent decision authorizing 5G trials without Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE is a sovereign one, said a top State Department official, asserting that America is deeply concerned about the dangers of installing networks with equipment that can be manipulated, disrupted or potentially controlled by China.

Ned Price also said that allowing untested, untrusted telecommunication suppliers, like Huawei or ZTE, to participate in or to have any control over any part of a 5G network creates unacceptable risks to national security, to critical infrastructure, to privacy and to human rights as well. China regretted the decision taken by the Indian authorities to not allow Chinese telecom companies to conduct 5G trials in India.