For a long period of time, these companies would not publicly commit to going ahead without Huawei for 5G, and despite pressure from the US (and warnings from CSIS), the Canadian government still has not made an announcement about whether Huawei would be restricted as a supplier.<p>Many Canadians were frustrated by this, feeling like they didn't want Huawei networks but that they weren't being heard.<p>It occurs to me now that had any of those steps been taken before reaching a deal with Ericsson, it would have given Ericsson a much stronger bargaining position and they probably could have charged a lot more.<p>This isn't the first time where I've felt frustrated, unheard, and kept in the dark, only to later realize that there may have been important considerations that I just wasn't aware of.
I'm as much a proponent of free trade as the next guy, but I do think there's a strong argument for trying to build and maintaining one's own infrastructure whenever possible, even if it's a bit more expensive. Not just for national security concerns, but because they're big domestic projects and it's nice to have to the talent and knowledge at home.
Possibly a bit of a stretch, but to my mind more business for Ericsson means more guaranteed support for Erlang. That's something to celebrate about in my book.
Huge relief to the government, who can now "approve" Huawei, and can go to the Chinese government and say, "see look we play fair in Canada", and still be sure that this will mean nothing and that no Huawei equipment will be used.<p>Wouldn't be surprised if the government asked the establishment telcos to do this favour for them. Huawei and the notion of them building Canadian 5G polls insanely badly in Canada and the government was in a tough place here.
My mobile carrier in Australia (Vodafone) was 100% Huawei for 4G and, similarly, has had to pivot away for 5G at great expense (it seems that the Huawei 5G was a cheaper upgrade to the existing kit they had). It has delayed them doing 5G for at least a year trying to make both the tech and commercials work to pivot. <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/vodafone-signs-nokia-for-5g-huawei-sites-to-be-scaled-back-20191230-p53ni6.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/vodafone-signs-nok...</a>
Can somebody articulate why using huawei a bad idea beside it’s a Chinese company and using those equipments gives China backdoor access into critical systems and everything it connects to. Or is that basically it? I am trying to understand this objectively as if sitting on mars why this is a good or bad idea.
For the unfamiliar, these are the bigger 2 of the big 3 ISPs in Canada. The basically own most of the actual telecommunication infrastructure, Rogers got some but not much.
As a Canadian, I would say that if Huawei was not selected due to issues relating to national security -- then why not take some time to setup a crown corporation / Government-owned company and have them develop indigenous hardware/software for 5G networks?<p>I am sure if Canadians can develop their own smartphones, space mission components (Canada arm) and airplanes, they can develop 5G network equipment.
I would love to know whether the fundamental objection over security vulnerabilities in the hardware and software of Huawei is resolved with this decision.<p>Or if Nokia and Ericsson are just as susceptible and it was just political posturing.
In other news; here in Denmark the government has barred Huawei by decree. Also covering Greenland and Faroe Islands. The situation is a bit different here since as there are multiple competing network operators (at least in mainland DK).<p>Germany's main network operators are also decling Huawei; not by direct government decree though.<p>So Huawei seems to be loosing 5G contracts all over the western world.
has anyone had to hear their crazy relatives go on about the dangers of 5G? Is there some penultimate youtube video or resource to point people to to assuage their fears?
Anyone who lives in Canada should comment on this. Their mobile data cost is over the roof expensive! This is in comparison already expensive cost in Australia.<p>They need to manage to give everyone affordable 5G monthly data plan first!
The carriers had every plan to use Huawei, the cost savings would drive far better profit margins and faster rollout for the same capital investment.<p>However, with the extradition situation with Meng and the threats from the CCP, it is clear that it isn't possible to do business with the company. The risk of a future need to tear out and replace Huawei product due to geo-political/ cyber-warfare in the future outweighs the savings from dealing with Ericsson or Nokia.
Despite zero actual evidence, everyone seems sure that Huawei are a security issue.<p>Despite enormous evidence, everyone seems sure that Western countries are NOT a security issue.<p>Last time I checked, Huawei actually offered a better product (speed, price, reliability).<p>Am I missing something or are people cheering for the opportunity to pay more for a worse product with more security issues?!
Here in Switzerland, all carriers which build their own cellular networks have chosen different partners for their 5G infrastructure:<p>* Swisscom: Ericsson<p>* Sunrise: Huawei<p>* Salt: Nokia<p>The whole Huawei scandal wasn't too big news here in Switzerland (as far as I know?) which is the reason that Swisscom and Sunrise were able to cover 90% of Swiss population with 5G at the same time (end of 2019).
Bell is already using Huawei components in other parts of their network. When I opened my Bell fiber modem last year, I noticed Bell was using a 1.25 Gbit Huawei SFP+ transceiver. Is there any possibility of a backdoor?
Canadians don't realize how high their telco bills are because that's their reality they don't know prices elsewhere and the closest neighbour have also high prices
Does it really matter?<p><a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19449824" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19449824</a>