TWO of Canada’s largest telecom firms Tuesday teamed with Sweden’s Ericsson and Finland’s Nokia Oyj to build fifth-generation (5G) telecom networks, ditching China’s Huawei Technologies for the project.

Bell Canada and smaller rival Telus Corp. eschewed Huawei, which analysts said would ease the Canadian Government’s thorny decision on whether to allow the company into Canada’s 5G network.

Bell, Canada’s second-largest cellphone provider by wireless revenue, announced it would partner with Ericsson for its core 5G network. Previously, it said Nokia would provide other parts of its 5G tech. Telus picked Ericsson and Nokia as its equipment suppliers, the company said in a separate statement. Rogers Communications, the other dominant telecom operator in Canada, has already partnered with Ericsson. Telus uses Huawei equipment extensively in its current network.

The announcements come as Canada’s government continues its review of Huawei’s role in the country’s 5G networks. The United States has warned Canada, the United Kingdom and other allies that it will limit intelligence sharing with countries that have Huawei equipment in their 5G networks, citing its potential use for spying by China, an allegation Huawei denies.

Neither Bell nor Telus provided financial details about their contracts with Ericsson and Nokia. Neither company said they had ruled out Huawei for security reasons.

“Huawei has been a reliable and innovative partner in the past and we would consider working with them in 5G if the federal government allows their participation,” said Bell Canada spokesman Marc Choma, in an email.

“Telus is the most interesting one here because . . . Telus has been as clear and vocal as they can be that Huawei should have some inclusion and that some of the risk could be mitigated,” said Jonathan Berkshire Miller, an expert in international security issues with the Macdonald Laurier Institute.

He said that Bell’s announcements may have been a factor in the Telus decision because it wouldn’t want to be the only national carrier without a clear position on its 5G suppliers.

“I think why they haven’t been so clear, for the longest time, has been their previous intention to include Huawei in their 5G systems,” Miller said.

Huawei, Ericsson and Nokia have been the three biggest players in the global network equipment industry and Huawei had gained market share in Canada over the past decade with its fourth-generation equipment, said IDC Canada vice-president Lawrence Surtees.

He said that Canada and the United Kingdom both have national security structures that analyzed Huawei equipment thoroughly without finding it to be a security threat as the United States alleges.

“And my understanding, from reading unclassified [documents], no superpower intelligence agency needs to co-opt a manufacturer. They have all kinds of sophisticated ways of doing things without the manufacturer and their customers even knowing,” Surtees said.

Huawei Canada spokesman Alykhan Velshi said in a statement Tuesday that Huawei remains committed to Canada and looks forward to the federal government making its decision about Huawei’s role in Canada.

“We continue investing more than a quarter of a billion dollars a year in R&D in Canada. We continue building new research partnerships with Canada’s world-class universities. As we have for more than a decade, we continue to work with our Canadian telecom partners to help them build and support state-of-the-art networks that connect Canadians,” Velshi said.

Aside from Huawei, Ericsson and Nokia, there are other companies that want a piece of the 5G network upgrades.

Samsung Electronics has announced a deal to supply equipment for Videotron’s wireless network in the province of Quebec and the Ottawa region of Ontario. (SD-Agencies)