Shaw gets access to more satellite TV spectrum, wireless companies squeezed for backhaul

A decision from Industry Canada last month to allocate additional spectrum in the 11 GHz band to direct-to-home (DTH) services allows Shaw Communications Inc.’s satellite TV company Shaw Direct to meet growing demand for additional satellite TV services, including high-definition channels. Shaw Communications president Peter Bissonnette lauded the department’s December 24 decision to open additional extended Ku-band spectrum to Shaw Direct. “We’re very pleased because it provides us with more opportunities to enhance the relationship that we have with our current customers and to attract more customers to the new programming services that we plan on carrying,” he tells Tech Media Reports. “With this extended Ku-band spectrum, we’ll be able to augment our current vast array of programming services to an even more vast array of high definition programming.” Bissonnette adds that the decision furthers competition in the DTH space. “ were able to convince by virtue of this decision that it would be in Canada’s best interests to have two competitive direct-to-home providers.” The decision doesn’t provide Bell Canada’s TV service with additional bandwidth because it uses different frequencies. In its decision, Industry Canada decided to allocate two 125 MHz blocks of spectrum to DTH (11.075-11.2 GHz and 11.575-11.7 GHz), but there are some conditions. The extended Ku-band is available to DTH until January 1, 2028 and after that DTH has to vacate these frequencies; fixed services (wireless backhaul) won’t be licensed in these two segments until January 1, 2026; and to use the frequencies, a satellite has to be launched before January 1, 2014. Calls to open the extended Ku-band to DTH were first made by Telesat Canada and Shaw in 2006. Shaw said at the time that it needed the additional bandwidth to offer more channels, including HD. As well, Shaw said since it already uses the Ku-band for DTH, expanding into the extended Ku-band was a logical choice. Tech Media Reports previously reported that Telesat– Shaw Direct’s satellite provider – and Ciel Satellite both supported the move to allow DTH in the extended Ku-band. But the consultation that led to this decision was full of acrimony. Initially Industry Canada proposed to allocate half of the band to DTH, but this was met with stern opposition from mobile carriers and other fixed wireless companies because they have extensive backhaul operations in the 11 GHz band. They argued that giving that much spectrum to DTH would have negative impacts on their operations, which they argued need more, not less, backhaul spectrum. Ken Engelhart, senior VP of regulatory affairs at Rogers Communications Inc., says it’s hard to determine if services will be negatively affected as a result of this decision, but adds costs will go up. “I would say it will definitely make things more expensive. Whether it’s going to degrade the network is hard to know because we’re not the only user,” he explains, pointing to Bell, Telus, and the new entrants. Engelhart acknowledges this was a reasonable decision from Industry Canada in that it recognized the spectrum needs of both DTH and wireless backhaul. But, he adds, backhaul challenges lie ahead as a result of the explosive growth of wireless data and mobile broadband. “We explained to Industry Canada that there’s a real problem with fixed wireless for backhaul: we need it,” he says. “The good news is we’re in a business that is exciting, growing and people want to buy our services. The bad news is there is a fixed amount of wireless spectrum and we’re putting more and more demands on it all the time.” Wireless companies’ backhaul demands are getting squeezed even more after Industry Canada decided to reallocate part of the 15 GHz band, another key wireless backhaul frequency. In a ruling released on December 15, the department allocated parts of this band for tactical common data link (TCDL) to facilitate certain military operations. “So it’s becoming more and more challenging to manage the backhaul network and it’s critical for Canada that we have ubiquitous broadband networks,” Engelhart says. Perry Hoffman is a freelance writer. He can be reach at perry@messagingmechanics.com.

Shaw gets access to more satellite TV spectrum, wireless companies squeezed for backhaul

News | 01/06/2010 6:52 pm EST

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