Canada’s new 5g policy forthcoming
Soon, Canada’s new 5G policy will be revealed by the Liberal government. Global security experts believe that Chinese vendor Huawei Technologies will be on the outside looking in. The United States, Britain and Australia have taken political steps to remove Huawei gear in their own countries’ 5G networks. Being part of the Five Eyes means Canada will likely need to cooperate with the global goal of security. This will likely exclude the Chinese 5G technology, and according to a new release, TELUS and IBM are set to play ball.
Canada’s federal government acknowledges that the U.S. has strongly encouraged countries to tread carefully on 5G security considerations. An American led delegation visited Canada in March 2020 to raise concerns with Canadian ministers and government officials.
The opposition Conservatives have long vocalized their demand for Liberals to deny Huawei access to the country’s 5G infrastructure. They speculate it would allow China to spy on Canadians more easily and hurt our national security.
Well, it would appear that the latest IBM and TELUS announcement has a clear eye on sovereignty requirements. Right now, 65% of Canadians can access the TELUS 5G spectrum. At least on paper, the fact that sovereignty terms are called out specifically in their own press release means the private sector is taking it seriously.
Like it or not, 5G is expanding rapidly. The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide and forecasted that 49% of mobile connections in North America will be 5G by 2025.
Canadian 5G expansion with TELUS and IBM
In its announcement TELUS said that it has expanded its strategic relationship with IBM. It intends to provide enterprises with “fast, secure and reliable 5G industry solutions”. The goal to extend secure and open cloud services is clear, but one key line stands out. IBM will “provide critical data security and meet Canada’s sovereignty requirements.”
TELUS, like all other providers, is betting on the development of 5G networks. 5G will give people speedier online connections and provide vast data capacity to meet ravenous demand. That demand will be in virtual reality, immersive gaming and autonomous vehicles among other emerging technology.
Ostensibly, enterprise solutions will be the focus of the cloud partnership. TELUS will be deploying a Canada-wide 5G edge computing platform to enable enterprises to work in a Hybrid Multi-Cloud environment paired with IBM Cloud Satellite. The 5G edge computing solutions will enable customers to integrate with public cloud solutions.
“The pandemic has shown us how important highly secure and reliable connections are for Canadians, especially in a time of heightened digital transformation. IBM is working closely with leaders like TELUS to use hybrid multi-cloud platforms, such as IBM Cloud Satellite, coupled with industry expertise to bring the power of 5G closer to the customers’ data. This helps TELUS deliver value to better enable digital transformation for its enterprise clients.”
Claude Guay, president of IBM Canada
IBM Canada, University of Ottawa to establish state-of-the-art Cyber Range
IBM is no stranger to advancing Canadian Cyber Security goals. The University of Ottawa recently announced a multi-year partnership to build and operate a Cyber Range. It will be a fully immersive, interactive, and experiential training and learning facility in cybersecurity and cyber safety. IBM is making a $21 million in-kind contribution to the University over five years to support the University.
TELUS seeing record growth
The announcement comes on the heels of TELUS’s 3rd quarter report. TELUS customer growth is up by 43,000 customers this year. Its highest quarter in history.
TELUS 5G network is currently available in markets across Canada. This includes Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton and more. By the end of 2021, it will reach over 600 urban and remote Canadian communities. This plan includes hundreds of indigenous communities.
Moreover, TELUS says that 5G will eventually support up to one million devices per square kilometre and over time 5G will bring near instantaneous responsiveness. That’s a monumental shift in how we use the internet to access daily activities. This will inevitably help enable applications such as remote surgery, autonomous cars and the creation of smart cities for enterprise clients.
“During the quarter, our team continued to execute on our accelerated broadband build, connecting more homes and businesses directly to our leading TELUS PureFibre service and expanding our 5G network to 64 per cent of the Canadian population, and to be enhanced with the deployment of 3500MHz in the months ahead.
Doug French, Executive Vice-president and CFO, TELUS
IBM Business Consulting focused on AI and Automation
IBM Consulting will work with TELUS to enhance business workflows through AI and automation. The 5G and digital transformation giants will be using the IBM “Garage Methodology” to drive enterprise design thinking at scale.
Beyond the obvious 5G sovereignty concerns Canadians have, it appears TELUS thinks it just makes good business. It makes technical sense to grow the partnership for enterprise business building their 5G digital transformation plans.
“Together, we are setting the stage for the rest of the ecosystem and partners to follow suit and adopt our approach to cloud computing, offering more scalability and agility to our customers with cost-effective and improved experience and connectivity.”
Ibrahim Gedeon, Chief Technology Officer, TELUS
