Huawei and ZTE cannot be part of the development of the country’s 5G telecommunications network, the Canadian government announced Thursday.
The decision follows years of geopolitical manoeuvring and delays after Beijing arbitrarily detained two Canadians for more than 1,000 days.
It ends a tumultuous waiting period over the fate of the Chinese company in the evolving Canadian 5G landscape. Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne spoke about the decision alongside Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino after North American financial markets closed on Thursday. Read more: Canada’s Huawei decision was ‘picking up momentum’ 2 years ago.
So what is happening? Mendicino said the government will “prohibit the inclusion of products, and services from high-risk vendors in our telecommunications system,” and introduce new legislation to protect Canada’s critical telecommunications infrastructure. “We are announcing our intention to prohibit the inclusion of Huawei and ZTE’s products and services in Canada’s telecommunications systems,” said Champagne. “We’ll take any actions necessary to safeguard our telecommunications infrastructure.” He said providers who already have equipment from the firms must remove it and replace it in keeping with timelines the government will be setting out.