Govt will keep national interest in mind while deciding on Huawei: Telecom Secy

New Delhi: The government will keep national interest in mind while deciding whether Chinese gear maker Huawei should be allowed to participate in 5G trials, a top telecom department official said on Tuesday.

The department also hopes to conduct spectrum auction by December-end or January for which Digital Communications Commission (DCC) will take a call on the base price of airwaves, followed by a Cabinet approval. The DCC is the apex decision-making body at the Department of Telecom (DoT).

"The DCC will be meeting next month sometime and we have already held one meeting this month," Telecom Secretary Anshu Prakash told reporters but declined to comment on whether a decision on spectrum prices can be expected in the upcoming meeting.

He added: "If we have to hold the auction by December-end or January we will have to take a call before that. Now when will it happen, the next meeting or meeting after that, we will have to see." The telecom secretary was speaking on the sidelines of Invest Digicom 2019 event.

To a question on Huawei, Prakash said the government has made its stand very clear that whatever is in the best national interest, will be done. He did not mention a timeline for a decision in this regard.

Earlier this month, Huawei had said it is hopeful that the Indian government will treat all foreign investments "fairly" and had urged the world's largest democracy to make an "independent decision" on permitting 5G trials in the country.