Workers install equipment on a new cell tower in Vancouver, on Feb. 28, 2023.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
A federal directive instructing Canadian telecom companies to remove certain Chinese-made radio equipment from their networks was meant to safeguard national security, but 2½ years later the law containing it has died in Parliament, carriers are at odds over the government’s intentions and some of that Chinese gear remains in one major network.
In May, 2022, Ottawa released a policy statement announcing its intention to prohibit Canadian telecommunications service providers from deploying products made by Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and ZTE Corp., which is partially owned by the Chinese government, on their 5G networks.
It cited serious concerns that these suppliers could be compelled to comply with extrajudicial directions from foreign governments “in ways that would conflict with Canadian laws or would be detrimental to Canadian interests.” At the time, critics of the companies suggested the risks could include facilitating espionage or attacks against critical infrastructure, if so instructed.
5G is typically considered faster and more reliable than 4G, but because it is more interconnected with devices and handles more data, it is generally considered a larger cybersecurity risk.
Canada’s closest allies had similar concerns about these suppliers. The United States, Britain, Germany and Australia also ordered the removal of Huawei equipment from their networks. Huawei and the Chinese government have denied the accusations, saying the company poses no security threat.
Ottawa’s directive was introduced in Bill C-26, the Critical Cyber Systems Protection Act, which would have given Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) the power to compel the telecommunications sector to protect its critical cybersystems. But the bill was slow to pass through legislative reviews and failed to reach royal assent before Prime Minister Justin Trudeau prorogued Parliament on Jan. 6.
While the bill may be reintroduced, that could leave its passage months or years away – if ever – leaving Canada vulnerable to cyberattacks and its legislation lagging those of global peers, experts say.
But until that point, the matter of compliance with Ottawa’s directive had largely come down to interpretation: did it refer to the radios themselves or the networks they are operating on?
ISED’s initial notice said that “5G equipment” would have to be removed by June, 2024, and gave a 2027 deadline for the removal of 4G technology. The telecom companies have interpreted this differently.
BCE Inc.‘s BCE-T Bell said it considered the directive to apply to all radios operating on 5G networks and replaced all equipment accordingly.
“The Government of Canada’s policy statement required us to remove Huawei equipment from our 5G network by June 28, 2024, and we have met that deadline as required,” said Bell spokesperson Luc Levasseur. “Our understanding is that 5G equipment is anything that broadcasts a 5G signal.”
But Telus Corp. T-T has interpreted the directive as referring to the type of radio, not the network it is operating on, so it continues to use some Huawei radio equipment on its 5G networks, a Globe and Mail analysis found.
A government database of radio equipment in use in Canada as of Dec. 13, 2024, shows 6,000 entries for spectrum blocks associated with Huawei-made radios operating on the 5G network and licensed by Telus. These entries include radio model numbers, certification codes and a manufacturing code that ISED identifies as referring to Huawei products.
Telus says it is in compliance because they are 4G radios that have been given a software upgrade to operate on 5G networks. Under the directive, 4G radios were not expected to be removed until Dec. 31, 2027.
“The radios identified as transmitting New Radio (NR) channels in the SMS data set are not stand-alone 5G radios, but are rather earlier-generation 4G radios that have limited capabilities to transmit 5G connectivity over 4G infrastructure. This makes Telus fully compliant with the proposed date of June 28, 2024, set by ISED, which applies specifically to 5G radios,” said Telus spokesperson Richard Gilhooley, adding the company is working toward removing its 4G equipment by the end of 2027.
Telus added that because each radio can transmit across multiple bands of spectrum blocks at once, they are listed several times, resulting in “a much higher number of entries compared to the actual count of radios.”
However, the company did not respond to a specific question about how many Huawei radios it was still operating. ISED also did not respond to this question or say whether it was aware that Telus was still using Huawei equipment.
“For security purposes, ISED does not have direct access to the reference data, as this is limited to the carriers,” said ISED spokesperson Alison Reilander.
ISED did not respond to specific questions about these interpretations of its directive.
However, according to a government source with knowledge of the matter, the intention of the directive was for companies to remove all Huawei and ZTE equipment from 5G networks. As such, Telus’s radios run counter to the spirit and intention of the directive, they said. The Globe is not identifying the source because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the matter.
According to the ISED data, no other carriers are using Huawei equipment on 5G networks. Bell and Telus both still use Huawei equipment on their 4G networks.
Bell declined to say how much it spent replacing its radios. But British Telecom, which was also ordered to remove Huawei equipment by the U.K. government, estimated it would cost about £500-million ($894-million) to do so.
It’s unclear whether the bill will be revived when a new federal government is elected. It’s possible that a Conservative government could expedite the process, as that party initially pushed for a Huawei ban in Canada in 2020 after U.S. senators asked Canada to consider it and President Donald Trump signed an executive order barring Huawei from doing business within the U.S.
Mr. Trump’s return to office could lead to a further crackdown on Chinese companies, especially after a major U.S. telecom breach attributed to a group of Chinese state-backed hackers known as Salt Typhoon, which gave Beijing access to the calls and texts of a number of top U.S. officials.