Canada will ban Huawei and ZTE from its 5G networks.

Canada has announced that it will prohibit two of China’s largest telecom equipment manufacturers from working on its 5G phone networks.

The country’s industry minister announced the restrictions against Huawei and ZTE on Thursday.

According to Francois-Philippe Champagne, the action will improve Canada’s mobile internet services and “defend Canadians’ safety and security.”

Several countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand, have already imposed limitations on the corporations.

The four countries, along with Canada, form the ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence-sharing agreement. During the Cold War, it evolved as a tool for monitoring the Soviet Union and transmitting sensitive intelligence.

The action by Canada was widely anticipated, as its partners had already barred Huawei.

Mr Champagne told reporters in the Canadian capital of Ottawa: “This is about establishing a framework to safeguard our infrastructure. This is the correct decision in a 5G era, when we rely more and more in our daily lives [on] our network.”

The fifth generation, or 5G, of mobile internet networks will provide substantially faster data download and upload speeds.

It also enables more devices to connect to the internet at the same time.

It comes at a time when data usage is increasing due to the growing popularity of video and music streaming. This is putting pressure on governments and mobile phone network companies to upgrade their telecommunications infrastructure.

Because of the Canadian government’s decision, telecom companies in the country will no longer be permitted to use equipment.