Government may be unlikely to compensate for possible removal of Huawei gear: report

It could reportedly cost up to $1 billion to remove Huawei gear if the government implements a ban

The Canadian government may be unlikely to compensate carriers for tearing down existing Huawei gear if a ban is implemented, according to a new report from Reuters.

A government source has said that there might not be a solid legal case for Ottawa to compensate for the costs of the removal, which could reach up to $1 billion.

“I’m not sure there is a solid legal case that we would have to compensate for making a proper national security decision,” a government source told Reuters.

The source also stated that the government would have to be cautious about “the public perception of handing over a billion dollars or more to very large companies.”

This comes as the federal government is conducting a security review into Huawei in order to determine whether the Chinese company will be allowed to participate in the rollout of 5G networks across the country.

With no sign of a decision coming soon, national carriers Bell and Telus have partnered with Ericsson and Nokia for their network deployments. Rogers is solely partnered with Ericsson for its 5G network.

Earlier this year in March, the U.S. government passed a bill to provide $1 billion USD to help small carriers replace Huawei and ZTE equipment from their networks.

The source told Reuters that the Canadian government would rather want to spend money on things that would grow the economy, rather than on something like compensation.

Source: Reuters