Industry Canada to issue spectrum release plan, begins mobile broadband study

OTTAWA—Industry Canada will issue a spectrum release plan next year, Helen McDonald, the department’s assistant deputy minister, said Tuesday. “That will let users know what spectrum will be made available, and when or over what timeframe, in advance for possible reallocation or any other actions we would need to take in response to strong demand,” McDonald said, speaking at the International Institute of Communications (IIC) annual conference. Industry experts say the plan will outline the bands expected to be released for various wireless services over the next five to 20 years, providing increased certainty for the telecommunications and broadcasting sectors. Keith McIntosh, director of regulatory affairs at the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA), said in an interview the association hopes the plan covers a 10-year period. “That planning really needs to begin now, because certainly investment decisions are affected along those long time horizons,” he said. But Eamon Hoey, a wireless industry consultant and senior partner with Hoey Associates, said in an interview that Industry Canada should assess its current spectrum management practices instead of looking to the future. “They should be getting outside reviews. They should be getting benchmarked against,” he said. Hoey said attention should be given to whether spectrum is being used efficiently. Industry Canada first began working on spectrum release plans in the 1990s and released its last plan in 2001. “The idea was to give the industry more stability by giving them a better sense of what spectrum would be coming online, when, and when the licensing process would occur so that they’d kind of know how many megahertz were coming down the pipe,” Ian Munro, a spectrum expert and independent consultant, said in an interview. McDonald said the department has also launched a supply and demand study on mobile broadband to determine possible shortages. The study results will be available in the summer of 2011. “That should give us a better view of when and where shortages could arise,” she said. McDonald added that the government will conduct the review in concert with the United States on what spectrum can be allocated or reallocated to mobile broadband. “We understand from our community we need to closely mirror what the U.S. is doing,” she said. Cooperation with the U.S. makes it easier for service providers to find compatible equipment and technology. It also prevents frequency interference. “Some of the bands we are looking at, and the U.S. is also looking at, are the MSS spectrum and the AWS Tier 3 blocks that are part of the U.S. plan, but we’re also looking at other blocks that may not be part of the U.S. plan,” she said. “For example, the 1.4 GHz band might be useful for mobile broadband here in Canada, but that’s not harmonized with the U.S.” Duncan Stewart, director of research for technology, media and telecom at Deloitte Canada, said the mobile broadband study is what Industry Canada should be focusing on. “Around the world that is the big challenge,” he said. Stewart said data congestion on mobile broadband networks has dramatically increased over the past two years, leaving providers with a possible shortage of spectrum. “It’s important that Industry Canada do a supply and demand study, but one of the challenges, of course, is it isn’t enough for them to do a study. They have to be right,” he said, referring to the study’s conclusions. “And that’s really hard to do because the assumptions we have can change so rapidly.” Stewart added that network congestion is also sensitive to price changes because raising prices may discourage people from using the network. McDonald said the department will also hold a consultation on the use and accessibility of backhaul spectrum. Wireless operators use backhaul spectrum to link wireless network towers in direct, point-to-point lines of communication. McIntosh said backhaul is an important issue and the department must ensure there is enough capacity to meet the access needs of mobile broadband providers. Industry Canada will also issue a consultation paper on white space spectrum in the spring. White space is unused radio frequency that acts as buffers between analog broadcasting channels. In September, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced it had taken steps to open up white spaces for unlicensed use that were freed up by the transition from analog to digital television broadcasting. Stewart said white space promises to be a more contentious issue than backhaul. “You have got different players from different industries with different needs arguing over the transition and the sharing and how it all works,” he said. McDonald also said at the conference that there is a need to review Industry Canada’s legislative regime to ensure the department has the tools it needs to be an effective regulator. She said the government could review secondary market trading rules, which currently require companies to seek ministerial permission before engaging in transactions. She added that Industry Canada could also benefit from the power to hand down administrative monetary penalties. “ would give us much more flexibility to encourage compliance with licences,” McDonald said. CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein also spoke at the conference Tuesday, where he repeated his call for the power of administrative monetary penalties. kfournier@thewirereport.ca

Industry Canada to issue spectrum release plan, begins mobile broadband study

News | 11/23/2010 11:57 pm EST

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