A consortium led by giant integrator Tech Mahindra has emerged as a bidder for an LTE upgrade project for India’s state-owned operator BSNL, after Chinese vendors were banned from the project. The Indian government has not banned Huawei and ZTE completely from 5G networks but has indicated it will impose stricter security regulations (on top of already stringent rules introduced more than a decade ago), and is likely to keep Huawei and ZTE out of the state-controlled networks of MTNL (in Delhi and Mumbai) and BSNL (everywhere else). The approach ties in with Indian policies to stimulate usage of locally produced equipment in telecoms networks; to build up its homegrown cellular equipment business (which is extremely small); and to encourage…