Telecom network maker Huawei Technologies has cut its India revenue target for 2020 by up to 50 percent and is laying off more than half of its staff in the country, Economic Times reported.
Huawei’s India unit said the report suggesting layoffs of more than half of Huawei staff in the country was untrue, but did not elaborate.

Ericsson, one of the main rivals of Huawei, has increased its employee base in India and other related religions.

Huawei, the world’s largest mobile network supplier and the second largest smartphone maker, was aiming $350-500 million in revenue for 2020, compared with roughly $700-800 million it was aiming for earlier in Asia’s third-largest economy, the newspaper said.

The company would be cutting 60-70 percent of its Indian staff, excluding those in research and development and the global service centre, the report said. The report did not reveal the total number of employees Huawei has in India.

Huawei’s India unit said it continues to work closely with all customers in the country. “Our India operations and resources, backed by robust local talent are designed to meet any customer requirements.”

India has also told two state-run telecoms firms — BSNL and MTNL — to use locally-made rather than Chinese telecom equipment to upgrade their mobile networks to 4G, Reuters reported.

Meanwhile, telecom operators in the United Kingdom are under pressure to remove Huawei network from their mobile business due to security concerns.