Why a Canadian ban on Huawei 5G may come with a whimper, not a bang
- A ban is expected soon now that China has freed the ‘two Michaels’, but experts doubt serious retaliation from Beijing or a big impact on consumers
- Canada’s big telecoms have announced alternative 5G technology, and Huawei Canada has shifted focus
Wired internet never reached the village of Lac La Hache, in the remote eastern interior of British Columbia.
So when Chinese telecoms giant Huawei Technologies and local firm ABC Communications announced in 2019 that they were teaming up to provide a high-speed, hi-tech wireless solution, it was big news. And not just in the tiny retirement and recreational community, population 258, that is known for its trout fishing and takes its name from an axe dropped in its eponymous lake by a French Canadian furrier long ago.
But the collaboration has not yielded the blazing fast 100 megabit per second wireless speeds that Huawei and ABC suggested in their initial fanfare. That remains a pipe dream for customers of ABC in Lac La Hache, like Rob Fry, a truck driver turned DJ who had hoped Huawei’s technology might let him run his entertainment business and online Cariboo Radio station from his home studio.
Fry did not even realise the project had been completed. He said he still had to drive to an office in the town of 100 Mile House, 25km away, to get streaming-speed internet.
“I haven’t seen anyone set anything up, so I don’t know if it even exists. I’ve never seen this thing transpire. Our internet is still so slow here it’s ridiculous,” he said last week, his assessment echoed by other customers.
Now, Lac La Hache’s experience seems emblematic of Huawei’s fate in a different way.
