{"id":17071,"date":"2020-02-14T13:12:48","date_gmt":"2020-02-14T20:12:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/?p=17071"},"modified":"2020-02-14T13:14:47","modified_gmt":"2020-02-14T20:14:47","slug":"telus-plans-rollout-of-5g-network-using-huawei-technology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/?p=17071","title":{"rendered":"Telus plans rollout of 5G network using Huawei technology"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chinese component maker accused of stealing state secrets and being an arm of Chinese government<\/strong><\/p>\n

CBC News \u00b7 <\/span>

Telecommunications company Telus Corp. says it is planning to roll out its 5G network in the near future using some technology from Chinese component maker Huawei.<\/p>\n

CFO\u00a0Doug French told\u00a0The Financial Post newspaper<\/a> in an interview as the company posted quarterly results on Thursday that the telecommunications provider is moving ahead with plans to build its next-generation 5G network by the end of the year, and will do so using some components supplied by Huawei, the Chinese company that has been criticized by numerous countries in recent years over allegations that its components make networks vulnerable to spying<\/a> by Beijing or others.<\/p>\n

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On Thursday, the U.S. government slapped new charges against Huawei<\/a>, alleging, among other things, it violated international sanctions by doing business with North Korea.<\/p>\n

In a statement to CBC News, Telus says it is looking to diversify its suppliers as it builds up its network, but at launch the 5G backbone will be built on Huawei components. “Telus will begin rolling out its 5G network shortly, and our initial module will be with Huawei,” French said.<\/p>\n

Huawei components are already deployed on Telus’s existing networks, so the company says it makes sense to use them as the telcos roll out 5G, a new wireless standard that will allow for more internet-connected devices to transmit far more data than before, and quickly \u2014 up to 100 times faster than existing networks.<\/p>\n

Huawei is one of the biggest telecommunications equipment manufacturers in the world, but the company has become embroiled in controversy\u00a0as the U.S. government has accused it of stealing state secrets, fraud and other offences. Huawei’s former CFO, Meng Wangzhou, has been on house arrest in the Vancouver area for more than a year<\/a> at the request of U.S. authorities.<\/p>\n

Numerous countries, including\u00a0Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Taiwan and the U.S. have banned Huawei and other Chinese firms from being involved in building 5G networks. Canada has allowed Huawei to be involved in 3G and 4G networks for more than a decade but has\u00a0thus far declined to decide one way or the other on Huawei’s eligibility to be involved the next generation.<\/p>\n

Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains told CBC News on Thursday that the government is still in the process of doing its “due diligence” on the company’s status in Canada. “Any decision we make will be done in a manner that will protect Canadians\u00a0and we will take\u00a0the appropriate\u00a0time to make the right decision on behalf of Canadians,” Bains said.<\/p>\n

Telus says the Huawei portion of their network is limited to “non-sensitive” radio access portions of the network \u2014\u00a0essentially the antennas and some otherthings installed at cell towers.<\/p>\n

Telus\u00a0says it will always remain “entirely compliant with current Canadian regulatory and cybersecurity requirements, which have been in place and approved by successive federal governments for more than a decade,” French’s statement said.<\/p>\n

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