Governments, tech firms partner on 5G

OTTAWA• The governments of Canada, Ontario and Quebec are partnering with some of the world’s digital heavyweights to usher in the next generation of wireless technology.

A $ 400- million publicprivate investment will create a corridor of 5G wireless test beds through Canada’s two largest provinces, aimed at giving companies a chance to experiment with new ideas and products that are only now becoming possible.

While many estimate it will take years before 5G is widely rolled out, it’s being billed as the wireless backbone to futuristic technologies including driverless cars, remotely controlled complex surgeries, and download speeds up to 100 times faster than today’s 4G networks.

“5G is the gateway to the future and we are just on the brink of this technological revolution,” Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains said Monday in Ottawa.

The new project is called ENCQOR — Evolution of Networked Services through a Corridor in Quebec and Ontario for Research and Innovation — and will allow an estimated 1,000 small and medium-sized businesses to plug into an early 5G platform.

Ontario, Quebec and the federal government have each pledged about $ 67 million, while the remaining $200 million will come from five private-sector partners. Ericsson, Ciena Canada, Thales Canada, IBM Canada and CGI will lead the public- private partnership, which is expected to “se- cure” more than 4,000 jobs, 1,800 of which will be specialized in 5G. Karl Sasseville, a spokesman for Bains, clarified that those jobs are made up of existing positions within the five private- sector partners that will be repurposed for the project.

Borje Ekholm, CEO of Swedish telecom giant Ericsson, said Canada is “leapfrogging” to the front of 5G technology with its commitment to wireless innovation.

Ekholm said he expects the test-bed technology to be deployed this year and be operational by early 2019.