Telus’ claim about Huawei equipment met with scorn in St. Albert, Alta.

A town in Alberta is condemning Telus Corp. for slowing down the rollout of broadband in the community. But the telecom denies that St. Albert is suffering any such pause. In May St. Albert director of information technology Joanne Graham told city council the western telecom was pausing its rollout in the town and in other communities in the province. She said the company blamed the federal government's ban on Huawei Technologies Co Ltd. equipment for the slowdown. Telus must remove the Chinese gear from its networks. But in a statement to the Wire Report, the telecom said it was still going ahead with the rollout. “Telus has not paused its PureFibre builds in Alberta,” the firm stated. “We have completed more than two thirds of our PureFibre build in St. Albert, and are investing more than $7.2 million now through 2027 in network infrastructure, operations and spectrum to support vital network connectivity in the community.” The company did not address the Huawei issue. One professor in the communications department of the University of Calgary is dubious about using the Chinese equipment manufacturer as an excuse. “I don’t think this idea that somehow Telus was caught off guard, I just don’t think that carries any weight at all,” Gregory Taylor told the Wire Report. “Not to mention that Canada was the last of the allied countries, Five Eyes countries, to implement this. They gave more leeway and more time to the industry than just about any other country.” The Americans banned Huawei in 2017. Telus had to have known that other nations would follow suit, he noted. The actual funding for the broadband rollout in Alberta came two or three years after the U.S. ban, Taylor added. What is more likely is that the telecom does not expect a huge return on investment for the fibre rollout and is looking to reassess capital expenditures in light of a poor last quarter, Taylor surmised. He also pointed to the change in the western telecom landscape. Shaw Communications was at one time breathing down Telus’ neck but things have quieted down since Shaw was taken over by Rogers Communications Inc. Taylor does not expect the lull to last but says while Rogers is assessing what to do out west, Telus has some breathing room. –Reporting by Paul Park at ppark@thewirereport.ca and editing by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca.

Telus’ claim about Huawei equipment met with scorn in St. Albert, Alta.

News | June 15, 2023

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Telus’ claim about Huawei equipment met with scorn in St. Albert, Alta.

News | June 15, 2023

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