NEW DELHI, INDIA, May 4, 2010 (AFP) - Chinese telecoms maker Huawei Technologies plans to meet senior Indian government officials to persuade them its equipment poses no security threat, a report said Tuesday.

New Delhi has blocked dozens of deals between Indian mobile phone operators and Chinese equipment firms because of security fears, the Economic Times reported, quoting an unnamed person with knowledge of the development.

While India insists there is no blanket ban, Huawei and ZTE, another Chinese telecom equipment company, say no new contracts have been approved since February 18, according to the report.

Huawei's executive vice-president, Xu Zhijun, and its president for Asia-Pacific, Wang Shengli, will meet officials from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's office and other key ministries from May 7, the newspaper said.

The restrictions have the potential to stoke already tense trade relations between two of Asia's fastest-growing economies.

As part of efforts to convince India it poses no threat, Huawei has told the government it is restructuring its Indian operations so the chairman and board of directors of the local arm will all be Indian residents.

In a letter to the prime minister's office, Huawei wrote it is "not just a Chinese company" as 85 percent of its staff in India and nearly all of its research and development workforce in the country are Indians.

Since 2005, the home ministry has warned foreign equipment vendors, especially Chinese, could install spyware and malware that could monitor voice and data traffic and bring down networks.

"Huawei is willing to give additional information that the Indian government agencies require. This is our commitment," Huawei Telecommunications India CEO Yang Kaijun wrote in the letter last week to the government, the report said.

The company, based in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, has been present in India for a decade.

Huawei India could not be reached for comment. A spokesman for the Indian telecommunications ministry said he was not immediately aware of any meeting.

However, spokesman Satyendra Prakash reiterated Tuesday there was no blanket ban on the import of telecoms equipment from China and said "the normal (clearance) drill was being followed."

According to government rules, telecom operators must get security clearance before making any equipment purchase order.

Telecom operators also say they are not being allowed to procure equipment from Chinese vendors that also are reported to include ZTE Corp, Maipu Communications, Comverse and UTStarcom.

Indian operators have been scrambling for new equipment to supply the domestic market which is adding mobile subscribers at rate of 15-20 million a month.

India offers a 150-billion-dollar opportunity for telecom equipment makers over the next five years as new operators set up their networks and 3G services are rolled out, according to industry figures.

India is the second-largest market outside China for both ZTE and Huawei. Mobile operators rolling out networks in India are choosing to partner with Chinese firms because of the low cost of equipment which matches Western vendors in quality, Indian media reports say.