Iristel is sticking with Huawei partnership, but moving slowly on deployment
By Ahmad Hathout
MARKHAM – Independent network operator Iristel will await a decision by the federal government on whether Huawei will be allowed to participate in the country’s 5G networks and is, in the meantime, not moving off its decision to partner with the Chinese telecom equipment manufacturer. However, the company said it’s handling roll-out of the equipment cautiously.
On Wednesday, the United Kingdom announced that it will ban the use of Huawei from its 5G network and carriers must remove the company’s equipment from their 5G apparatuses by 2027, despite saying in January it would allow the world’s largest telecom equipment maker to get involved in the non-sensitive areas of the infrastructure. Earlier this year Bell and Telus announced European manufacturers Ericsson and Nokia, respectively, will be vendors for their 5G builds (Telus also added Samsung), which elicited comments about a possible abandonment of the Chinese company under scrutiny for alleged ties to the Communist government and surveillance activity.
SaskTel has also been a Huawei customer in the past and is also re-evaluating what it might do. None of the companies have said publicly they are officially abandoning Huawei as a supplier, but everyone has been awaiting official word from the feds since January 2019, when the U.S. government moved to ban Huawei from its 5G networks.
Far North operator Iristel (owner of Ice Wireless), which announced a partnership with Huawei last summer to connect 70 rural and remote communities by 2025, said it is so far unaffected by the political dynamic that is engulfing the tech titan, despite now being forced to carefully navigate deployment for fear of a full ban.
“We are sticking with the partnership until we hear otherwise from government,” Samer Bishay, Iristel’s CEO, told Cartt.ca. “Even though we don’t like to be part of any political moves, we do have to adhere to local laws and regulations and whatever that might be due to the political climate.”
Bishay said the company has so far deployed about 10% of Huawei equipment on radio access networks – technology that resides on towers – and was anticipating deploying more rapidly following the July partnership, but the escalating political situation involving the extradition case of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou from Canada to the United States, the case of Canadian hostages Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig in China, and hardened language coming from the U.S. has forced the company to slow its roll.
Bishay said the concern is now squarely on whether Huawei will be banned from the non-core network, such as at the RAN level, rather than just the sensitive core part.
“We’re kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place.” – Samer Bishay, Iristel
“We’re kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place,” Bishay said in an interview. “On the one hand, there’s uncertainty on the equipment that was already purchased, and then there’s obviously uncertainty on future expansion plans,” such as with changes in equipment. Bishay noted that it would cost the company “tens of millions of dollars” to replace the Huawei equipment it is currently deploying, and it can “easily” take six months to negotiate a deal with an operator.
Then there’s licensing requirements that the government has in place that require carriers to continue service in areas, Bishay said, which adds an additional level of complexity.
One difference with the Iristel-Huawei partnership and the spreading Huawei bans is the companies are rolling out 4G gear up north and not yet deploying 5G.
Huawei spokesman Alykhan Velshi said in an email the company cannot comment on individual customer accounts due to commercial sensitivity when asked about the progress of its partnerships in light of recent developments. But he said once Huawei sells the equipment, it’s entirely up to the recipient whether or not to build with it.
Huawei has been operating in Canada for 12 years, and Velshi said the company has grown every year in revenue and employment. He said the company sells primarily fixed-wireless technology to wireless providers in rural Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta and in Northern Canada, with a priority on rural communities. Another one of its big name customers is Xplornet Communications, which owns a large holding of 3.5 GHz spectrum used for its fixed-wireless business in rural areas.
“The feedback we consistently receive from our WISP customers when it comes to fixed wireless is that our equipment has significantly higher spectral efficiency compared to our competitors,” Velshi said. “Additionally, our equipment is customized to operate in frigid climates and survive our cold winters.”
The attraction to Huawei has often been its reportedly inexpensive equipment compared to its counterparts, which also includes Samsung, Videotron’s 5G vendor of choice. The he looming federal government decision that has dragged on for many months has left a cloud of uncertainty for companies trying to stave off being left behind in the next-generation race.
Paul Evans, a professor of Asian and trans-Pacific relations at the University of British Columbia, told Cartt.ca two factors in play related to the timing of a federal government decision on Huawei will be London’s decision and the American election, under four months away. He also said extradition and hostage cases, while adding important weight on the mind of Canadians’ views of the Communist state, should not affect the 5G timetable.
The U.K.’s decision to ban Huawei though will delay 5G roll-out by a year, according to the BBC, citing the country’s digital secretary, Oliver Dowden.
A spokeswoman for Public Safety Canada said in an emailed statement that “an examination of emerging 5G technology and the associated security and economic considerations is under way. The government’s review will consider technical and security factors, including advice from our security agencies, allies and partners.
“The Government has been clear that it will pursue an approach that takes into account important domestic and international considerations, and will make the best decision for Canadians.”
Velshi said he hopes the government’s decision will be made “based on technology, not politics.”
