Canadian Telecommunication Giants Shutting Out Huawei in 5G Network

On June 2, Bell Canada and Telus Mobility have respectively announced their 5G networks partners, which means Huawei is excluded. Today, none of Canada's top three telecommunications giants have adopted Huawei's 5G equipment. Bell Canada announced that it has selected Ericsson 5G Radio Access Network technology to support its nationwide 5G network. Telus Mobility selected Ericsson and Nokia as its 5G networks partners. Bell Canada, Telus Mobility and Rogers Communications are the top three telecommunication giants in Canada. Rogers Communication had already chosen Ericsson in 2018. This means that the Canadian telecommunication giants did not take Huawei technology under consideration. Since Huawei entered Canada in 2008, its equipment has been widely used in Canadian networks such as Bell and Telus, but many countries have indicated that Huawei has close ties with the Chinese Communist Party. Under the Chinese laws which are written by the CCP, Chinese companies must cooperate with the government in gathering foreign intelligence. Recently, Huawei's alleged intelligence-gathering activities in many countries around the world have also been heavily exposed. Despite the high cost of giving up Huawei's equipment, in the end, Bell and Telus made the decision to cut ties with Huawei. Following the blacklisting of Huawei last year, the U.S. Department of Commerce introduced a new rule in May to restrict any company from selling U.S. technology and software products to Huawei, especially microchips sets and design-related products such as semiconductors. Huawei has admitted that this new rule has a tremendous impact on the company and Chairman-in-Office of Huawei, Kuo Ping, expressed on May 18 that “survival is our key now.” Canada is the only country in the Five Eyes Alliance that has not made a decision to ban Huawei in its 5G networks construction. The United States, Australia, and New Zealand had already banned Huawei in their 5G networks, and Britain has also decided to expel Huawei from its market within three years. Canadian former Minister of Finance, Joe Oliver, expressed: “I don't believe the Canadian government should open up the 5G network to Huawei because there is risk of spying and there is risk of cyber attacks. As well, you know, we are part of the Five Eyes which is a sharing of intelligence between Canada, the United States, Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand. If we open up and adapt to Huawei, the U.S. will be more reluctant to share important intelligence with us under those circumstances.”