Canadian telcos tap Ericsson, Nokia for 5G equipment amid Huawei uncertainty

(Reuters) – Bell Canada on Tuesday chose Sweden’s Ericsson to be its 5G network equipment supplier, while smaller rival Telus Corp picked Ericsson and Finland’s Nokia Oyj , with Huawei continuing to face an uncertain future in the country.

The announcements come a week after Huawei Technologies Co Ltd’s Chief Operating Officer Meng Wanzhou was dealt a setback by a Canadian court as she tries to avoid extradition to the United States to face bank fraud charges.

Canada, which is reviewing the security implications of 5G networks, is yet to decide on allowing Huawei to build 5G cellphone networks in the country.

While Huawei awaits the Canadian government’s decision, the company said it supports Bell’s strategy of selecting multiple equipment suppliers, referring to the Canadian telecom firm’s relationship with Huawei to supply other network components.

Earlier on Tuesday, Telefonica Deutschland signed a deal with Ericsson to build its 5G core mobile network in Germany, saying the choice of the Swedish supplier would safeguard the security of its next-generation services.

Germany’s three main operators are removing Huawei from their network cores, but they continue to rely on the Chinese vendor for the less-sensitive peripheral radio access networks that will carry 5G traffic.

(Reporting by Neha Malara and Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V and Krishna Chandra Eluri)