STRATFORD – Wireless spectrum is squarely in the sights of Industry Canada and its leader, Minister Tony Clement, as we head into 60 days of consultations on a new digital economy strategy for the nation.
From what’s being discussed in Ottawa right now, we’re told, wireless companies have grown worried that if they thought the last batch of spectrum auctioned off was expensive (they paid $4.3 billion, collectively), just wait until the next one. Spectrum is a finite public resource and expect the federal government to get as much from it as it can (especially with a projected $50 billion federal deficit), is what wireless companies have been warned behind the scenes in Ottawa.
Minister Clement opened the Canada 3.0 conference here in Stratford announcing a tight, 60-day consultation aimed at informing the federal government’s digital economy strategy, which will be released sometime in 2011 (we’d bet it’s released right here at this conference next year, assuming there’s not another federal election, that is…).
From TV to health care, software copyright to music, everything is on the table as the ministry and the federal government as a whole (which is quite publicly concerned about connecting all Canadians) ponders the creation of a new Canadian digital strategy.
But, what will enable such a strategy to go ahead? How can Canadians be connected? Bandwidth, of course.
In an interview recently, Minister Clement told Cartt.ca, “you can never have enough spectrum, I’m finding in this job.”
And in his speech to the 1,500 or so digital leaders, content producers, broadcasters, new media folks, students and others gathered Monday morning in the arena at the Stratford Rotary Complex, he expanded on that, saying: “According to Cisco, wireless networks in North America will carry about 740 petabytes of data per month by 2014… more than 40% higher than last year.
“Timely and predictable access to additional spectrum, therefore, is crucial to ensuring that we have the capacity we need to meet future growth and for next-generation mobile applications and essential public safety services,” added the Minister.
(Ed Note: We’re thinking that analog OTA TV broadcasters should be paying attention to the “timely and predictable access to additional spectrum” part of what he said, especially since page 18 of the discussion paper itself mentions auctioning the 700 MHz analog TV spectrum specifically – and sticking to the 2011 deadline. Anyhoo...)
Minister Clement didn’t make any new funding announcements or anything like that yesterday. However, he urged the private sector from all industries to act, both by taking part in the consultation – and hurrying the heck up on their adoption of new digital technologies.
“We need to build a broad-based coalition. The private sector, all levels of government and academia… Everyone needs to contribute their ideas,” said Clement.
“And by ‘everyone,’ we mean individual citizens as well as industry groups and experts. Canadians are now spending more time online than ever before. Using social media. Creating content. Watching television programs. Conducting research. Seeking information. Buying or selling. And opening up new horizons for business and the economy.
“This strategy will touch our lives, our homes and our workplaces, so it’s critical that everyone becomes engaged.”
But what of Industry Canada’s spectrum management and the digital consultation? How much does the government hope the next auctions will bring in – and when will the next one be? Minister Clement touched on this during a press conference after his speech.
“Whatever we decide on the spectrum management issue, it has to at least be partially animated by the discussions on the digital economy strategy. The two are wedded,” he said.
“The (700 MHz) spectrum does offer us the ability to expand the ability of providers to keep the pipe big enough for all of the demands of the future, which is huge and is only getting larger. As more of our society is doing things online, in both our private and public lives, then of course the pipe has to continue to be large enough to handle all of that,” added the Minister.
As for the cost of the spectrum? He wasn’t about to go there yet. “It is a public resource. So there’s always a balancing you have to do between access by private providers and the public interest and we will be having those discussions and that’s all I can tell you at this point.”
