Telus’ upcoming 5G network will include components from the Chinese company Huawei, Telus announced Thursday.
“Telus will begin rolling out its 5G network shortly, and our initial module will be with Huawei,” said Telus CFO Doug French, noting the network will be completed by the end of this year.
The Canadian government has yet to make a decision on whether or not Huawei technology is banned from Canada’s 5G network. A ban could potentially put Telus’ plan up in the air.
Both US and Canadian security experts have warned that allowing the company onto the network could endanger national security and effectively give communist China backdoor access to Canadian data and infrastructure.
“Huawei claims that it is a private company—similar to Apple or Google—and is being unfairly tThe US, which is seeking to extradite Meng on various fraud charges related to violating Iran sanctions, recently announced a number of new criminal charges.
Meng is also wanted in relation to providing surveillance equipment to Iran and circumventing economic sanctions on North Korea. reated by the United States and its allies. But the reality remains that Huawei is a company beholden to higher laws that could—and most likely would—make it a tool for state-sponsored espionage,” said Richard Fadden, a former national security adviser to prime minister Stephen Harper.
Huawei is at the heart of a diplomatic dispute between Canada and China. After the arrest of the company’s CFO Meng Wanzhou, relations between the two countries have chilled and the Chinese retaliated by illegally detaining two Canadian citizens.
Three of the Five Eyes countries – the US, Australia and New Zealand – have already announced a ban on Huawei.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently decided to allow Huawei to play a limited role in developing the United Kingdom’s 5G network.
