Huawei refutes Indian media claim of link to Taliban
( 2001-12-13 16:26 ) (9 )

Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei Technologies on Wednesday lambasted Indian media for suggesting Huawei India had link with the Afghanistan's ousted Taliban.

Indian newspapers earlier reported that Huawei's India branch helped the Taliban update their telecommunication networks. Articles quoted a senior member of India's intelligence agency as saying US agencies had tipped off India after discovering equipment belonging to Huawei in Afghanistan.

At the Huawei's headquarters in Shenzhen, a company spokesman denied insinuations that it was involved with the Taliban: "We have no links with the Taliban, nor did we provide any equipment for them. Our employees abroad always follow laws and regulations in that country during work."

J. Gilbert, a public relations officer at Huawei, said reports linking the company to the Taliban were baseless.

"None of the technologies we are working on in India have reached the market. And they are such cutting-edge technologies, like 3G, that the Taliban would have no use for them," he said.

In China, Huawei is as well-known as Nortel and Cisco in the US, producing telephone switches, optical transmission and wireless communication gear. It predicts revenues of US$4 billion this year.

The company set up its branch in Bangalore in 1999 and has invested US$20 million in it.