Canada to Ban Huawei/ZTE 5G Gear, Joining Five Eyes Allies

OTTAWA, May 19 (Reuters) – Canada said on Thursday it plans to ban the use of 5G equipment from China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd (HWT.UL) and ZTE Corp (000063.SZ) to protect national security, joining the rest – called the Five Eyes intelligence sharing network.

“We intend to exclude Huawei and ZTE from our 5G networks,” Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne told reporters in Ottawa. “Vendors that already have this equipment installed will need to stop using it and retire it based on the plans we are announcing today.”

Champagne added that companies will need to retire their 5G equipment by June 2024, they will not be reimbursed. Companies using its 4G equipment must withdraw by the end of 2027.

The widely anticipated decision was delayed amid diplomatic tensions with China. The rest of the Five Eyes network, which is made up of Canada, the United States, Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand, have already banned the team.

In September 2018, Canada first announced that it would review potential national security threats when adopting Huawei equipment.

Then, in December of the same year, Huawei’s CFO Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada on a US arrest warrant, sparking a long-running dispute with China that finally ended last September with the release of Huawei. of Meng.

After Meng’s arrest, Beijing arrested two Canadians and charged them with espionage. The two men were released the same day as Meng. read more

Now diplomatic tensions between China and Canada have eased somewhat. On Wednesday, China lifted a three-year restriction on Canadian canola seed imports, reversing what was seen as a retaliatory move for Meng’s arrest. read more

Thursday’s decision comes after Canada’s telcos have already opted to use other companies’ 5G hardware.

A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Canada said the alleged security concerns were a “pretext for political manipulation” and accused Canada of working with the United States to crack down on Chinese companies.

Alykhan Velshi, Huawei’s vice president of corporate affairs in Canada, said in an interview with Canadian Broadcasting Corp that the company is still waiting to hear “what kind of national security threats they think Huawei poses.”

Velshi said Huawei still has 1,500 employees in Canada, mainly in research and development, and selling products such as mobile phones, and will continue to do so.

ZTE did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In 2020, Bell Canada (BCE.TO) and rival Telus Corp (T.TO), two of the largest wireless providers, partnered with Sweden’s Ericsson (ERICb.ST) and Finland’s Nokia Oyj (NOKIA.HE) to build a fifth state-of-the-art telecommunications networks (5G), ditching Huawei for the project despite using Huawei’s 4G equipment.

In addition to the ban, Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino said Canada would draft new legislation to protect critical financial, telecommunications, energy and transportation infrastructure from cyber threats.

Reporting by David Ljunggren, additional reporting by Ismail Shakil and David Kirton; written by Steve Scherer; Edited by Sandra Maler and Stephen Coates

Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.