Two major Canadian wireless companies said they would build out their next-generation 5G wireless networks with equipment from European providers, sidelining China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為).
Montreal-based BCE Inc said that Ericsson AB would provide the radio access network equipment — the critical antennas and base stations — for its 5G network.
Telus Corp announced in a separate statement that it has selected Ericsson and Nokia Oyj “to support building” its network, without elaborating.
Those announcements came ahead of a closely watched — and long overdue — decision by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on whether to ban Huawei from participating in the nation’s 5G infrastructure amid deeply troubled relations with Beijing.
Huawei previously played a large role in Canadian wireless networks, but has faced growing national security concerns from Western governments.
BCE would still consider working with Huawei if the government allows their participation in 5G, the Canadian company said in an e-mailed response to questions.
US President Donald Trump’s administration has lobbied allies to ban Huawei 5G, saying its equipment would make networks vulnerable to exploitation by the Chinese government.
The UK in January said it would allow Huawei a limited role, but British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government has since backtracked, saying it seeks to reduce reliance on the company’s technology and on China.
Telus and BCE awarded Huawei its first major project in North America in 2008 — a pivotal contract that helped cement the Chinese provider’s reputation as a global player that could compete on quality. The deal paved the way for it to become a major supplier to all three of Canada’s biggest telecoms over the next decade.
The Telus announcement came as a particular surprise after chief financial officer Doug French told the National Post in February that “we’re going to launch 5G with Huawei out of the gate” by the end of the year.
Telus spokeswoman Donna Ramirez did not immediately respond to a question on whether the company’s announcement still leaves room for Huawei to participate in its 5G rollout.
Huawei said in an e-mailed statement that it looks forward to the federal government completing its 5G review and making an evidence-based decision about its role in helping build Canada’s next-generation wireless networks.
Trudeau has stalled on whether to ban Huawei. Tensions between the two countries have been rising since Canadian authorities arrested Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou (孟晚舟) on a US handover request in late 2018. After her arrest, China put two Canadian citizens in jail, halted billions of dollars in Canadian imports and put two other Canadians on death row.
The extradition proceedings against Meng, the eldest daughter of the company’s billionaire founder Ren Zhengfei (任正非), have pushed Canada’s relationship with its second-biggest trading partner into its worst state in decades.
Beijing has accused Canada of abetting a US-led “political persecution” against a national champion.
To many, Tatu City on the outskirts of Nairobi looks like a success. The first city entirely built by a private company to be operational in east Africa, with about 25,000 people living and working there, it accounts for about two-thirds of all foreign investment in Kenya. Its low-tax status has attracted more than 100 businesses including Heineken, coffee brand Dormans, and the biggest call-center and cold-chain transport firms in the region. However, to some local politicians, Tatu City has looked more like a target for extortion. A parade of governors have demanded land worth millions of dollars in exchange
An Indonesian animated movie is smashing regional box office records and could be set for wider success as it prepares to open beyond the Southeast Asian archipelago’s silver screens. Jumbo — a film based on the adventures of main character, Don, a large orphaned Indonesian boy facing bullying at school — last month became the highest-grossing Southeast Asian animated film, raking in more than US$8 million. Released at the end of March to coincide with the Eid holidays after the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, the movie has hit 8 million ticket sales, the third-highest in Indonesian cinema history, Film
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) revenue jumped 48 percent last month, underscoring how electronics firms scrambled to acquire essential components before global tariffs took effect. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp reported monthly sales of NT$349.6 billion (US$11.6 billion). That compares with the average analysts’ estimate for a 38 percent rise in second-quarter revenue. US President Donald Trump’s trade war is prompting economists to retool GDP forecasts worldwide, casting doubt over the outlook for everything from iPhone demand to computing and datacenter construction. However, TSMC — a barometer for global tech spending given its central role in the
Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designer specializing in server chips, expects revenue to decline this year due to sagging demand for 5-nanometer artificial intelligence (AI) chips from a North America-based major customer, a company executive said yesterday. That would be the first contraction in revenue for Alchip as it has been enjoying strong revenue growth over the past few years, benefiting from cloud-service providers’ moves to reduce dependence on Nvidia Corp’s expensive AI chips by building their own AI accelerator by outsourcing chip design. The 5-nanometer chip was supposed to be a new growth engine as the lifecycle
RSS