“We intend to exclude Huawei and ZTE from our 5G networks,” Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne told reporters in Ottawa. “Suppliers who already have this equipment installed will have to stop using it and remove it according to the plans we are announcing today.”
Champagne added that companies will have to remove their 5G equipment by June 2024, it will not be restored. Companies that use their 4G equipment should be phased out by the end of 2027.
The decision – which was expected – was postponed amid diplomatic tensions with China. The rest of the Five Eyes network – which consists of Canada, the United States, Britain, Australia and New Zealand – has already banned the equipment.
In September 2018, Canada announced for the first time that it would review possible threats to national security when accepting Huawei equipment.
Then, in December of that year, Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wangzhou was arrested in Canada by US order, creating a long-running dispute with China that finally ended last September with Meng’s release. Following Mann’s arrest, two Canadians were arrested by Beijing and charged with espionage. The two men were released the same day as Meng.
Diplomatic tensions between China and Canada have now eased somewhat. On Wednesday, China lifted a three-year restriction on cannabis seed imports by lifting what was considered a retaliatory move for Meng’s arrest.
The decision on Thursday comes after telecommunications companies in Canada have already chosen to use other companies’ 5G hardware. ZTE did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
Alihan Welshi, Huawei’s vice president of corporate affairs in Canada, told Canadian Broadcasting Corp. that the company is still waiting to hear “what threats to national security Huawei poses.”
Welsh said Huawei still has 1,500 employees in Canada, mostly in research and development, and sells products such as mobile phones, and will continue to do so.
In 2020, Bell Canada and rival Telus Corp – two of the largest wireless service providers – teamed up with Sweden’s Ericsson and Finland’s Nokia Oyj to build fifth-generation (5G) telecommunications networks, abandoning Huawei for the project. , although they used Huawei 4G equipment.
In addition to the ban, Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino said Canada will draft new legislation to protect critical financial, telecommunications, energy and transport infrastructure from cyber threats.
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