The government has cleared the decks for China's Huawei Technologies to participate in the upcoming trials of the next-generation 5G networks, a senior official said on Monday.
The trials will be held in January, he said, asking not to be named.
The telecom department will meet operators on December 31 to confirm the timing for conducting 5G trials. All wireless operators in India have received an in-principle nod for conducting 5G spectrum trials, the official quoted above said.
In October, the India head of Huawei, Jay Chen, said the company is ready to enter into a "no backdoor" agreement with India to allay security concerns, as India was preparing to launch 5G networks.
India, the world's second-biggest wireless market by users, will hold an airwaves auction for 5G services before March, telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said recently.
The government has been delaying taking a decision on allowing or banning Huawei from the test runs amid a US-led push to shut out the Chinese tech and telecoms group, saying its gear contained "back doors" that would enable China to spy on other countries. Beijing denies such a plan.
The decision to allow Huawei to participate in the 5G trials comes at a time when the US National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), signed into law last week, has slowed the lifting of sanctions against the company. China on Thursday said it "firmly opposes" trade restrictions included in a new US defence act, having already admonished the bill for interfering in its internal affairs.