Telus Backs ‘Viable and Reliable’ Huawei in Memo, Globe Reports – Bloomberg
What happened: Prominent Canadian telecommunications company Telus expressed confidence in its Chinese business partner Huawei even as tensions between China and Canada persist. Bloomberg, citing a paywalled story from Canadian media outlet the Globe and Mail, says Eros Spadotto, executive vice president of technology at Telus, told the company’s employees in a memo that Huawei was a “viable and reliable” player in China’s telecom industry, and characterized Telus’ partnership with Huawei as a “positive, transparent and innovative-centric” one. Spadotto added that his company has collaborated with Canadian authorities to discuss Huawei-related security concerns. Huawei is Telus’ Number 3 supplier, according to Bloomberg’s own data analysis.
Why it’s important: An endorsement from a major Canadian corporation offers some much-needed support to Huawei in Canada, where the company has been under the microscope in recent months. Canada currently is reviewing its stance on allowing Huawei to take part in the country’s 5G rollout. Several other countries have already banned Huawei from 5G deployments, including Australia and New Zealand. The US is also reviewing whether to permit Huawei technology and has accused Huawei of violating sanctions against Iran. Such allegations led to the arrest of the company’s CFO, Meng Wanzhou, in Vancouver last month, ratcheting up tensions between Beijing and Ottawa ever since.