ZTE, one of the telecom network makers from China, said it is awaiting spectrum allocation to mobile operators to conduct the 5G tests in India.
Indian telecom operators such as BSNL, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio are planning to join the 5G race in 2020. But the Government is yet to finalize the 5G spectrum allocation policy.

ZTE is yet to make any official announcement on the number of 5G network deals globally. Huawei has signed 40 5G contracts. Both Ericsson and Nokia are also trying to bag more 5G network deals.

“In India, we are seeking approvals from the government on conducting 5G trials and we are in talks with all the operators — Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and BSNL,” said Bhakti Sagar Khandelwal, sales director at ZTE Telecom India.

The company is yet to initiate talks with Reliance Jio Infocomm for conducting 5G network trails in the country, BusinessLine reported. Samsung is the 4G network supplier to Reliance Jio. Samsung has claimed that it is top 5G network supplier in Korea, which has become the first country in the world to go live with 5G mobile network with commercial 5G plans.

The government is in the process of allocating spectrum to operators for conducting 5G trials. “We will participate with them for the trials. As and when the regulatory approvals for trials come in, we will be ready from the infrastructure and the applications point of view, as well as with the back-end,” he added.

Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is examining security issues before permitting telecom network manufacturers from China to take part in 5G trials. Huawei is the largest telecom network maker in the world. ZTE is in the fifth position.

Indian telecom operators are not clear about the use of 5G technology among Indian operators for the proposed 5G rollout. Telecom operators may opt for the Millimetre Wave (MmWave) or the sub-6 GHz spectrum.

It’s still not clear whether the operators would go for MmWave; sub-6 GHz; band N78; 2.6 GHz, which is used for 4G; or the sub-1 GHz, Bhakti Sagar Khandelwal said.

Earlier, ZTE reported that it made a net profit of RMB 0.8 billion to RMB 1.2 billion during the first quarter of 2019.

The company posted a full-year operating revenue of RMB 85.51 billion in 2018, with net loss of RMB 6.98 billion in 2018.

ZTE has collaborated with 30 global operators in 5G, with the shipment of Massive MIMO base station reaching 10,000 and more than 400 NFV commercial and PoC cases.