TORONTO – If Canada is going to deliver broadband nationwide – connecting a growing plethora of products – we need to move forward immediately on the next wireless spectrum auction, Rogers Communications CEO Nadir Mohamed said on Wednesday.
In a speech at the Economic Club of Toronto and later speaking to reporters, Mohamed implored the federal government to move the auction of the 700 MHz block of spectrum especially with greater alacrity. He also asked Industry Canada to make sure the auction is without the set-aside rules favouring newcomers which was used in the last spectrum sell-off in 2008 that many say caused a massive over-spend as the industry shelled out over $4 billion.
Speaking first about the array of new products and services on offer from around the globe that exploit full IP connectivity (including a 2011 entry into home monitoring from the big red machine which we’ll talk about below), as well as the present and future technology which will consume data like nothing before, Mohamed tied it all into the resources required to make it all happen: spectrum and cash.
“(T)o deliver this future we require significant capital investments,” he said. “We require vast amounts of bandwidth, and we require the right spectrum at the right frequencies. The demands of the data era are completely unlike the voice era – and the demands of the next era will be even more dramatic.”
Now, while Mohamed noted that Industry Minister Tony Clement has said getting the auction of the 700MHz block of spectrum off the ground is a top priority, it’s expected the auction won’t actually happen until 2012.
Those using that spectrum now are Canada’s over-the-air TV broadcasters, who only have to vacate it in the major markets set out by the CRTC on August 31, 2011. In the meantime, though, there’s little reason the auction can’t go ahead in advance, said Mohamed, noting that in the U.S., that’s how it happened. (That auction happened in the States in January 2008 even though American analog OTA TV broadcasters only shut their old transmitters off in June 2009.)
“To us, the key is getting the right kind of spectrum. 700 MHz is seen as prime spectrum for LTE because of its characteristics: great in buildings, great in rural.
“Why we want to make sure that spectrum is a) auctioned early and b) that it’s made available for companies like ours is because when you look south of the border,” said the CEO, “both AT&T and Verizon are deploying 700 so we have to have access to it because for us to drive the agenda in terms of services and applications and to meet the demand of our customers we need spectrum… and we would like it sooner rather than later.”
But 2012 seems like an awful long way, we asked. Is Rogers pushing for something quicker?
Since TV broadcasters are still using the spectrum, “the question is do you start and set the ground rules and have it in motion, even if the spectrum is not being cleared, which is what happened in the U.S.” he said.
“My assertion is that you don’t need the two to be tied together. You can actually have the auction first.”
Mohamed also used his appearance to talk about Rogers Smart Home Networking, a service which will launch in early 2011 and allow customers to control all the machines in their home from a mobile device or computer. Want to turn up the heat? Click on RSHN. Want to remote-set your DVR? Click RSHN. Want to set your home alarm? Same thing.
(Ed note: Those with long memories will recall how Rogers was once in this business years ago with security company Rogers Canguard. However, it sold the security business to a U.S. company back in 1998.)
“This new service will start as a real-time home monitoring system with energy management and home automation tools,” said Mohamed. “It will allow you to access the news, sports, or local traffic all via your home security panel when you walk in the door.”
Plus, it creates a quintuple play, hyper loyal customer, as it’s unlikely that homes with Rogers Cable, Rogers High Speed Internet, Rogers Home phone and Rogers Wireless – now all interconnected with Rogers Smart Home Networking – would want to unravel all of that to bolt for a cheap cell phone from a single-play competitor.
