India's government is considering potential action that could see legacy Chinese telecoms equipment being removed from cellular networks in the country.

Moneycontrol reports that the government is evaluating plans over a possible "rip and replace" program of the legacy network kit.

The publication reports that the government has requested information from India's mobile carriers to understand their reliance on Chinese technology and hardware such as Huawei and ZTE.

This is being led on behalf of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) gathering information from service providers on their equipment exposure.

A final decision to replace such equipment would be made by the MHA.

The rip-and-replace program wouldn't impact India's 5G networks, as Chinese telecom vendors haven't provided equipment for these networks due to not being deemed 'trusted source' vendors for the more modern technologies.

India's mobile carriers have only been able to use 'trusted source' vendors for their 5G networks; however, the government has allowed the Chinese equipment already installed in the networks to remain.

Telcos including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea, and state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) have all used Chinese kit in their networks, though India's largest operator Reliance Jio has not deployed any Chinese telecoms equipment. Reliance has developed its own RAN equipment.

The possible removal of legacy Chinese telecoms kit from 4G and fixed networks would be a costly and lengthy process, with Moneycontrol reporting that the removal of such kit could cost Airtel and Vodafone Idea up to $3 billion.

If the program does get the go-ahead, it would see India follow several other markets in replacing Chinese telecoms equipment, including the US, where it's rip and replace program is still ongoing. Other markets have also pushed to ban the use of Chinese equipment in their 5G networks, including the UK, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

A GSMA report released in July noted that the removal of Huawei's equipment could cost the European Union anything between €30 billion ($34.8bn) and €40 billion ($46.5bn) in total.