Small ISPs welcome ISED consults for fifth tier spectrum licensing area

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) has launched a consultation on a newly proposed category of smaller service areas for spectrum licensing, a moved praised by small wireless providers that have pushed for smaller area sizes at auctions that they can afford. The Canada Gazette notice posted on the department website says ISED would introduce a smaller tier 5 spectrum service area, with a “view of encouraging additional access to spectrum within rural areas, and supporting new technologies and emerging use cases,” including in emerging 5G technology that targets specific, smaller areas. The move comes as ISED anticipates a substantial increase in spectrum demand and after a number of small and regional service providers said they’ve faced issues acquiring spectrum outside of major population centres. It also lands just a week after a fall report published by the auditor general raised concerns rural internet service providers (ISPs) are having a hard time acquiring spectrum because ISED auctions it off in geographic blocks often too large for small providers to bid on. The consultation paper suggested a service provider could benefit from the smaller license areas if they’re targeting 5G rollout for a small town or, for example, a “resource extraction company working in a specific area.” It also suggests a smaller area size would lead to more available licences, especially in rural areas, and could result in lower fees per license in small areas with low population counts. “The licensing of smaller service areas may further facilitate access to spectrum for all service providers, particularly in rural areas, to support current and emerging use cases, the adoption of new and emerging technologies, such as 5G and Internet of things (IoT), and further the use of existing underused spectrum frequency bands,” the consultation paper said. In ISED’s recent Spectrum Outlook 2018 to 2022 consultation report, it noted a number of groups and providers –– the British Columbia Broadband Association, the Canadian Communication Systems Alliance (CCSA), CanWISP, Cogeco Inc., Seaside Wireless and Sogetel –– had all asked for smaller licence areas. Terry Duchcherer, CEO of Netago in Alberta and CanWISP board member, welcomed the proposal as long-awaited fix to the auction system for smaller providers. “A lot of our members are small … and can’t afford to bid on spectrum in the larger tiers that are defined today,” he told the Wire Report Thursday. “With the tiers the way they are and the deployment requirements, often spectrum is deployed in the populated areas and the outlying areas are left silent, which is a problem for delivering services to rural people.” “It’s been an issue for quite a long time.” Bob Allen, head of the British Columbia Broadband Association and CEO of wireless Internet service provider ABC Communications, said the association is “very pleased” to see ISED considering smaller blocks. “We have made numerous submissions over their recent consultations saying that one of the reasons the small players can’t get any spectrum in auction is the blocks go up in size, the price goes up and the little guys are priced out of the market. So this is a good news story,” he said, although added it doesn’t say what frequencies it would use the new tier for. He said access to spectrum has been a big issue since at least 2004, when auctions became more complex and the geographic blocks have been bigger, noting the long-time problem is “getting worse” as incumbents turn their minds towards fixed wireless. He pointed to BCE Inc.’s attention on fixed-wireless in Ontario as an example. “The small players at least have not had to contend with the incumbents in their markets, whereas that’s changing,” he said. ISED has received comments in a number of consultations related to access to spectrum using smaller service areas. This consultation on tier 5 service areas is in line with the Government of Canada’s policy of encouraging service provision in rural areas to ensure that Canadians in all areas of the country benefit from the latest technologies. The department is proposing two options on how to draw up the new license areas: by municipal area, or by population size. Under the first proposed scheme, it would define the new tier based on Statistics Canada’s 2016 census subdivisions, although it would set a minimum size because some divisions are smaller than 1 km sq. The benefit of that would be separating rural regions from major urban centres to help ensure access to service for remote communities, it said. “In past consultations, the amalgamation of urban and rural areas into a single service area has been raised as an issue hindering the delivery of services to more remote communities.” Under the second option, ISED is proposing four categories: large would be for areas over 100,000 people, medium would range from 30,000 to 99,999, and ‘small’ ranges from 2,000 to 29,999 people. The fourth category would be remaining areas under 2,000 people. That option was developed to “provide a clear delineation between highly populated urban areas and very rural areas,” the consultation document said. Duchcherer said it’s too early to give an assessment of the two proposed models because each might affect small providers across Canada differently, depending on their location. The consultation will be published in the Canada Gazette on December 1, an ISED official said. Comments are due at the end of January, and replies are due by March. The consultation document said the move to smaller area blocks would follow in the footsteps of the U.S., France and others, which are all starting to license smaller service areas for certain spectrum bands, particularly with 5G technology. The document also notes the UK and Sweden are both currently considering licensing spectrum in much smaller localized areas, such as railway stations and soccer stadiums. — With reporting by Kyle Duggan at kduggan@thewirereport.ca and editing by Ahmad Hathout at ahathout@thewirereport.ca

Small ISPs welcome ISED consults for fifth tier spectrum licensing area

News | 11/29/2018 4:48 pm EST

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