Canada tells the US to butt out of its 5G security debate

[dufus]

Canadian operators began their initial 5G rollouts earlier this year but will dramatically ramp up their offering throughout 2020

 

 

Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, Navdeep Bains, has said that his country will not be bullied out of working with Chinese tech giant, Huawei, on Canada’s forthcoming 5G launch.

 

The US government claims that Huawei’s 5G network infrastructure represents a threat to its national security and claims that its network equipment is more easily hackable than that of its competitors – a claim that Huawei strongly denies.

 

Having largely failed to make an impression on its European allies, the US government is now threatening to withhold crucial security information from Canada if it continues to work with Huawei on 5H.

 

“We will make sure that we proceed in a manner that’s in our national interest,” Bains told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. on Thursday evening.

 

“We won’t get bullied by any other jurisdictions,” he added.

 

Canada is in the early stages of its 5G rollout, with the country’s mobile network operators launching next generation mobile network services in a handful of towns and cities.

 

As Canada looks to scale up its 5G network reach, operators are seeking clarification of any potential restrictions that could be placed on the use of specific vendors’ kit.   

 

The UK recently gave Huawei the greenlight to continue working with its mobile network operators on 5G but imposed a 35 per cent limit on the use of any single supplier in any operator’s network mix.

 

Huawei has received similar assurances in Germany, France and Italy, where it will continue to work on delivering next generation mobile connectivity.  

 

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