5G in Canada is on the rise

Since 2021, telecommunications companies in Canada began rolling out of 5G technology bringing faster mobile internet connections for millions of Canadians. Rogers Communications were the first to roll out 5G nationwide and this has been followed by companies such as Bell and Telus. In a recent case study, telecoms giant Ericsson released a case study highlighting how their technology has enable Rogers Communications to roll out 5G, and whilst there were challenges during the project, the result as stated in the case study is “a highly capable and reliable, fully cloud-native standalone 5G Core network that is ready to be used.”

The roll out of 5G by Rogers Communication over most of Canada and can be seen in this interactive map. A recent article on lifewire provides a status update on the various Canadian telecommunications operators who are rolling out 5G. It’s great to see 5G being accessed by more of the Canadian public and as reported in a 2022 report by Open Signal, Bell and Telus are competing to provide the best 5G download speeds. The companies jointly won the 5G Download Speed award with scores averaging above 150 Mbps. However, Rogers Communication leads when it comes to 5G availability.

5G can redefine what Canadian businesses can achieve & Government’s role

In late 2020, the Canadian Government launched a $1.75billion Universal Broadband Fund (UBF) to roll out fast connectivity partly facilitated by the covid pandemic. Projects funded under the UBF, as well as through other public and private investments, will help connect 98% of Canadians to high-speed Internet by 2026 and achieve the national target of 100% connectivity by 2030 as reported firstly on Cision. In an article published on their website, professional services firm EY ask businesses to look internally as to how they can utilise 5G to navigate their problems “Look at your business. Find out where your operations are hampered by network capacity, high latency or unreliable signals. Start asking how 5G can go beyond problem solving to usher in net new capabilities, services and offerings. The magnitude of 5G merits a unique approach. Not only because it can help businesses operate better, but because those businesses can apply 5G to innovate around the world’s toughest problems. That’s powerful. A collaborative ecosystem where governments, telcos and other businesses come together to drive progress represents a new direction for Canadian innovation. It’s most certainly worth a shot.” 

 What this means for 5G telco recruitment?

Matt Dawson, Divisional Manager at First Point Group comments “In 2023, we are going to start seeing more companies deploy 5G in Canada, however, don’t expect all of Canada to get 5G overnight.  Deployments are likely to start with the various levels of government as they are positioned to determine how quickly 5G will be deployed and to influence access to the infrastructure required for 5G networks. In 2023, I expect we will see an increase in the demand for 5G deployment specialists in the public sector which will see an increase in hiring in the private sector to provide these valuable resources. I expect that we will see large government contracts being awarded to companies in Canada that can most reliably deliver on the promise to deliver 5G network deployments efficiently. I expect that we will see the great demand for resources in the following areas, Solutions Architecture – Networking, 5G Network Engineering, and RF Planning and Optimization Engineering.”

For more information about 5G telecoms recruitment in Canada or to hear about how we are helping telecoms companies build their 5G networks in Canada, contact Matt Dawson.