Telus plans to introduce 5G network with Huawei ‘shortly’

TORONTO Telus Corp. will launch a 5G network in Canada “shortly” using Huawei Technologies Co gear, Telus’s CFO said Thursday.

“We’re going to launch 5G with Huawei out of the gate,” Doug French said in an interview, after the Canadian telecom reported fourth-quarter earnings. “We will continue to work with the government to make sure we meet all their standards, but we don’t see anything slowing us down at the moment.”

The next-generation wireless technology is set to become a major narrative for telecom companies in Canada, as all three network operators plan to launch some sort of 5G service this year.

Rogers Communications Inc. has already announced that they have turned on their preliminary 5G network in four Canadian cities, though that’s something of a theoretical milestone, since no customers can actually connect yet.

Rogers is planning on using exclusively Ericsson gear for its 5G wireless network, and BCE Inc. has said Nokia will be its first supplier, but the company left the door open to using Huawei gear as well.

The upgrade to 5G has been inexorably tied to Chinese equipment manufacturer Huawei because it is one of only a handful of companies in the world that makes leading-edge wireless equipment. Huawei is also widely recognized as cheaper than competitors Nokia and Ericsson. But national security experts have raised concerns that its equipment may allow the Chinese to compromise Canadian communication systems.

In the U.S. on Thursday, the government announced a 16-count indictment against Huawei, “to misappropriate intellectual property, including from six U.S. technology companies, in an effort to grow and operate Huawei’s business.” The American government also alleged that Huawei illegally worked with Iran and North Korea, and tried to conceal it.

The indictments include charges against Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, who is currently in Canadian custody awaiting a decision on extradition to the United States.

Canada has yet to make a decision on whether to allow Canadian telecom companies to use Huawei for 5G.