As the federal government continues its comprehensive security review of the potential involvement of Huawei in building Canada’s 5G wireless network, Ottawa has offered Nokia funding of up to $40 million for conducting research on 5G wireless technology in Canada, CBC News is reporting.
The Finnish telecom giant, together with Huawei and Ericsson, is among the top three contenders for helping Canadian Telcos including BCE and Telus set up the country’s 5G network.
According to the source, Canada’s innovation minister Navdeep Bains has already finalized the Nokia deal in Davos, Switzerland, where he is participating in the World Economic Forum. “The analysis is not just about Huawei and is designed to assess how best to protect Canadians”, said Bains.
The federal funding will back Nokia’s research work in Canada to help telecom networks meet the needs of 5G technology. The company is also developing cybersecurity tools to protect telecom networks.
The government is expected to sell the deal as a way to support more than 2,000 of Nokia’s jobs already in Canada and to create 237 new positions. Nokia Canada’s projects, valued at over $214 million, are based in Mississauga, Ont., and the Ottawa suburb of Kanata.
Last week, the Chinese government warned Canada not to ban Huawei regarding 5G hardware to build out the country’s future wireless networks.
