India restricting Chinese telecom purchases

India has blocked its fast-growing telecom sector from buying some Chinese-made equipment, an Indian mobile operator said Friday, in a move set to stoke trade tensions between the emerging giants.
An executive of a Indian mobile operator said his company had received a letter from the Indian government saying it could not buy equipment from UTStarcom, a US-based company that manufactures in China.
"We were told we could not buy equipment from UTStarcom. I believe most operators have received such letters," the executive of one of India's larger mobile operators, who asked not to be identified, told AFP.
A manager at UTStarcom, the leading provider of hardware for Internet television services in Asia, said he could not immediately comment.
Earlier Friday, a Chinese trade body complained telecom equipment makers in the country were being prevented from selling to Indian telecom companies on security grounds.