Rogers Communications, a leading operator in Canada, will spend up to C$2.9 billion or $2.21 billion this year to expand its communications infrastructure in Canada, including for 5G.
Lack of right regulations in Canada to build 5G infrastructure puts the proposed investment at risk, Rogers Communications CEO Joe Natale said.
“As we enter the world of 5G, regulatory certainty is critical to investment,” Joe Natale said on a post-earnings call.
Canada is reviewing the security implications of 5G networks, including whether to allow China’s Huawei Technologies to supply network equipment.
Countries including the United States, China, South Korea and Japan are in a race to speed up 5G adoption, hoping the technology will spur breakthrough in the development of smart cities and autonomous cars, among other things.
Rogers became Canada’s first cellphone services provider to offer 5G telecom services, as it started rolling out the technology in downtown Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal last week.
Rogers Communications has partnered with Sweden’s Ericsson for the technology needed to build its 5G network and has plans to expand to another 20 markets by the end of the year.
Rogers Communications posted growth in revenue and added 131,000 net wireless post-paid mobile subscribers in the quarter ended Dec. 31.