Rogers would use Shaw spectrum to quickly expand LTE services, Rogers, experts say

Rogers Communications Inc. could quickly expand the capacity of its fourth-generation LTE network in lucrative Western Canadian markets to offer faster data speeds for a larger number of subscribers if it is allowed to acquire Shaw Communications Inc.’s AWS spectrum, industry experts say. Rogers, Canada’s largest incumbent wireless carrier, said last week that it had entered a deal that would give it an option to purchase spectrum Shaw acquired in a 2008 auction once an Industry Canada moratorium on transferring that spectrum to incumbent carriers expires in September 2014. The option, which is subject to regulatory approval, would give Rogers the ability to acquire 20 MHz of spectrum in B.C., Alberta and Manitoba, and 10 MHz in areas of B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan and Northern Ontario, the companies said. In a telephone interview with The Wire Report on Wednesday, Ken Engelhart, Rogers’ senior vice-president of regulatory affairs, said the company would use the spectrum to expand its LTE network in Western Canada. “LTE all the way,” he said, when asked what type of network the spectrum would be used for. Rogers’ website says the company currently operates an LTE network on AWS spectrum in Vancouver, Victoria, Whistler and Kelowna in B.C.; in Calgary and Edmonton in Alberta; in Saskatoon and Regina in Saskatchewan; and in Sudbury Northern Ontario. The company does not currently have an operational LTE network in Manitoba, according to its online coverage map. Adrian Foster, a spectrum expert and partner with McLean Foster and Co., said Rogers would be able to use any spectrum it acquires from Shaw to expand the capacity of its LTE network in locations where the service is already available. He added that the company could run the expanded network on the same physical infrastructure it already uses, allowing it to cut down on how much time and money the network expansion would require. “They basically have everything up on the network,” he said. “They’re going to have all of the cell sites in place. I don’t think it would take them very long, frankly.” Foster said Rogers could use the added capacity to push more data more quickly across its network. He said the capacity could also be used to accommodate more users without running into problems relating to network congestion. According to the CRTC Communications Monitoring Report released in September, Rogers was the largest wireless provider in B.C. in 2011 with a 42 per cent share of the province’s wireless subscribers, three per cent higher than Burnaby, B.C.-based Telus Corp. and 25 per cent higher than BCE Inc. Rogers was also the second-largest carrier in each of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba in 2011, with market shares of 26 per cent, 13 per cent, and 32 per cent, respectively. Alberta was the most lucrative wireless market in Canada, the CRTC data shows, with carriers collecting an average of $74.96 from each subscriber each month in the province in 2011. B.C. was the second-most lucrative market that year with cell phone bills that averaged $62.78 per month, followed by Saskatchewan with average monthly bills of $57.14. Mark Goldberg, head of telecom consultancy Mark H. Goldberg & Associates Inc., said Rogers’ current AWS spectrum holdings are sufficient to serve the voice communication needs of its subscribers in Western Canada, but said additional spectrum would give the company more flexibility to roll out advanced services. “A lot of carriers have already taken care of basic coverage, but in order to roll out advanced services, LTE included, you need a lot more spectrum,” he said. Goldberg said Rogers will need to continue operating its older GSM and HSPA+ networks in the years ahead as its customers continue to migrate to the newer, LTE technology. By obtaining additional AWS spectrum from Shaw, he added, Rogers would give its engineers additional flexibility to expand its LTE network to accommodate that migration without requiring the company to build additional towers. He said this would not only save the company millions of dollars, but would also spare it from combating the type of public opposition carriers often face when planning new tower sites. “We simply can’t take it for granted that an optimal tower will get permissions in a timely fashion,” he said. “That’s why flexibility is really the way that networks would want to operate … The more types of tools that are available to the engineers, the better.” Rogers is not yet guaranteed that it will be allowed to purchase Shaw’s spectrum, even when the moratorium on spectrum transfers expire. Earlier this week, a coalition of public advocacy groups criticized the company’s deal with Shaw as potentially skirting the 2008 auction’s rules—which were designed to give new entrant carriers access to spectrum the incumbents could not acquire—and asked Industry Minister Christian Paradis to intervene in the spectrum’s sale. According to Industry Canada’s website, the vast majority of Shaw’s AWS spectrum—including all but 10 MHz in Winnipeg and Brandon, Man.—falls within the spectrum blocks that were set aside for new entrant carriers during the 2008 auction. Engelhart said Industry Canada’s rules for that spectrum only barred the incumbents from purchasing it until September 2014, and do not prevent incumbents from arranging, in advance, to buy that spectrum once the moratorium is lifted. He added that Shaw has previously stated that it had no plans to use the spectrum to build its own wireless network, and it was laying fallow under Shaw’s ownership. “This spectrum is not being used by Shaw: Shaw’s made a decision not to go into the business,” he said. “Rogers will put the spectrum to good use to provide service to Canadians, so I think the public interest is strongly in favour of this transaction.” —With reporting by Nicholas Kyonka at nkyonka@thewirereport.ca and editing by Danika Grenier at dgrenier@thewirereport.ca. With files from Danika Grenier.

Rogers would use Shaw spectrum to quickly expand LTE services, Rogers, experts say

News | January 24, 2013

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Rogers would use Shaw spectrum to quickly expand LTE services, Rogers, experts say

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