MADRID: Supported by the Huawei technology, Vodafone Espana commercialized the first 5G mobile services in Spain on Saturday.
The ultra-fast and low-latency 5G network is the infrastructure that can make a huge difference. About half of the population in 15 major Spanish cities including Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Seville are initially involved, which makes the country among the first that rolled out 5G services in Europe.
Vodafone Espana’s embracing of the Huawei 5G technology means not only communication 10 times faster in Spain, but also a step closer to a future brimming with excitements like autonomous driving, telemedicine and virtual reality in everyday life.
Another thing that is certain is that the United States’ pressuring of its European allies to join itself to block the global 5G technology leader Huawei from the 5G network market at their expense will not work.
As Washington has failed to prove that the Chinese telecom giant makes backdoors to enable spying on any users, the U.S. bullyism under a security pretext harms its credibility.
In dealing with its business rivals, as the world’s largest economy, the United States’ pursuit of its America First policy backed by politicized accusations has definitely constituted a disruption to global free trade and economy.
European countries like Germany, Italy and the Netherlands have their own standards for security, which are certainly not like the American one which led to the loose licensing of Boeing 737 Max. In response to the U.S. pressure, many have made this clear and are expected not to exclude any bidder from their 5G projects for prejudice, smear, or groundless doubts.
For example, carriers supported by Huawei are rolling out their 5G services in Britain and Switzerland. For them, choosing Huawei is but a market-oriented decision based partly on lower costs and a reliable longtime partnership. It is a fact worth mentioning that Huawei has been in cooperation with most of the major mobile operators across Europe.
The European attitude towards Huawei also represents a widening gap between the two sides of the Atlantic, with an openness to safeguarding multilateralism and cooperation.
This stands in stark contrast to the U.S. unilateralism and protectionism, and promises brighter economic prospects with new business models and other innovative ideas generated by the quicker and advanced 5G network.
Spain is not the first in Europe to use Huawei technology, and is surely not the last one.
(AGENCIES)
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BIZ-PNB-NPA SALE
PNB puts on block 6 NPAs with outstanding of over Rs 1,000 cr
NEW DELHI, June 16:
State-owned Punjab National Bank has put on sale six non-performing loans amounting to over Rs 1,000 crore, including two accounts of Vandana Vidyut and Visa Steel.
Asset reconstruction companies (ARCs), non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), other banks and financial institutions can submit binding bids till June 26. The bids will be opened on the following day.
“We intend to place the (six accounts) for sale to ARCs/NBFCs/Other Banks/FIs etc,” said a notice put up by PNB.
The reserve price for the six non-performing assets (NPAs) has been fixed at Rs 342 crore.
Bhopal-based Vandana Vidyut Steel owes Rs 454.02 crore, while Kolkata located Visa Steel has an outstanding balance of Rs 443.76 crore.
The rest four NPAs – Temptation Foods, Helios Photovoltaic, Cabcom Cables, and Zoom Vallabh Steel – are Delhi based.
The sale process is to be handled by the Stressed Assets Targeted Resolution Action (SASTRA) Division of the bank. The submission of financial bids will be only through e-auction method, which will take place on the portal of the bank, it said.
Punjab National Bank (PNB), which was hit by a massive Rs 14,000-crore scam allegedly perpetrated by jeweller duo Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, has enhanced its recovery mechanism by forming the Stressed Asset Management Vertical (SAMV) and SASTRA.
It is also looking to raise Rs 10,000 crore in 2019-20 from sale of non-core assets, rights issue and expected write-backs from two large accounts undergoing insolvency proceedings.
For the full fiscal 2018-19, the bank’s consolidated net loss was at Rs 9,570.11 crore, as against a loss of Rs 12,113.36 crore during 2017-18.
Its income during the fiscal ended March 2019 rose to Rs 59,514.53 crore compared to Rs 57,608.19 crore in preceding year.
Gross NPAs of the bank stood at Rs 78,472.70 crore at the end of the financial year 2018-19, lower than Rs 86,620.05 crore reported in 2017-18. Net NPAs were valued at Rs 30,037.66 crore as against Rs 48,684.29 crore.
The Delhi-headquartered bank had recovered Rs 20,000 crore in 2018-19 as against Rs 9,666 crore in the previous fiscal. (AGENCIES)
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