Flaws in rural broadband funding hot topic in telecom law review

Rural broadband funding programs in Canada suffer from “significant” design flaws that have in some cases put investments by small providers on hold, a regional broadband group is warning -- one of a number of submissions to the ongoing review of Canada’s communications laws raising concerns with program structure. The Eastern Ontario Regional Network (EORN) said in some cases, federal government broadband funds have been “inconsistent” when it comes to project requirements and timelines, and funding criteria sometimes even change during the early stages of the process, resulting in “ineffective and incomplete applications.” “In fact, providers are on hold from making their own investments because they don’t know if they can leverage additional funding due to the delays in award notifications,” reads a document the organization submitted in January to the blue ribbon panel reviewing Canada’s broadcasting and telecommunications laws. “The Connect to Innovate Program was especially problematic,” it said, after noting that it and other programs do help address some of the rural connectivity gaps in Canada. “In the Eastern Ontario region, multiple qualified small providers submitted reasonable applications. They continue to wait and have not been told whether they were successful or not. They are now considering reduced scope projects, that they may have started earlier if they had known the results. These result in continued delays in providing service to the residents of our region.” It did not specify which providers those were. Most of the agreements under that program are expected to be signed by April. Numerous groups have raised issues with the state of rural broadband programming throughout the review, usually after stating they appreciate the funding nonetheless. The Independent Telecommunications Providers Association said in its submission that many rural broadband programs lack a component for operational funding to prevent the projects from eventually failing. A scathing report by the late auditor general last fall raised concerns in particular with the Connect to Innovate program’s design, and also criticized Ottawa for not putting in place a national broadband strategy because Innovation, Science and Economic Development has been “reluctant to establish a strategy without funding.” The regional network was alongside a number of other groups, notably those representing towns, cities and regions, such as the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, that told the panel there’s an urgent need for a national broadband strategy with long-term funding. FCM wrote that “aspirational goals have not worked” and the connectivity gap between cities, suburban and rural areas will “only be exacerbated if system-wide solutions are not developed.” Of all the concerns raised regarding the design of rural broadband funding programs revealed so far, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), the organization that represents 65,000 Inuit in Canada, delivered the harshest critique. It wrote that the federal government has “failed to meaningfully address” the digital divide in the North and that not treating it as an issue of market failure has led to “unambitious” telecom policies that are “failing Inuit,” with only 37 per cent of rural households meeting the basic service standard speeds of 50 Mbps and none at all in the Inuit Nunangat region that have access to those speeds. It said broadband spending over three decades for unserved or underserved communities in Canada totals around $2.5 billion, but Ottawa’s own estimates suggest that amount could have instead brought fibre to every community in the North. “While unambitious policy and cost-ineffective investments in incremental change make it easier for policymakers to declare short-term success, they fail to bring about the transformative change that is required to close the digital divide in Canada.” Other concerns in the programming were softer and more targeted. The Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities wrote in its submission that while upload and download speeds are important to measure, the data Ottawa uses to make decisions on funding projects, such as the CRTC’s rural broadband fund, needs to be accurate. “In many locations across Saskatchewan, there is service available that would meet the minimum download speeds, but these internet connections are not reliable,” its submission said. “We believe that the related discrepancies warrant further data collection and analysis so that we have a true picture of broadband and mobile access across Canada.” All of the submissions to the review are expected to be made public once the panel issues its consultation report, which is due by July, although dozens of companies and organizations have now either made their submissions public on their own or shared them with news media. — With reporting by Kyle Duggan at kduggan@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

Flaws in rural broadband funding hot topic in telecom law review

News | 02/25/2019 12:41 pm EST

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