OTTAWA – The CRTC said in a letter Monday it expects wireless internet service providers, including current holdouts Bell, Rogers, Telus and Xplore, to participate in the commission’s data project with Innovation Canada to track fixed wireless internet performance.
The CRTC has previously asked wireless ISPs to contact their subscribers about participating in the third phase of its Measuring Broadband Canada project, which seeks to better understand how Canadians subscribing to fixed wireless internet services with the federal objective speeds of 50 Mbps download and 10 Mbps (or faster) upload are experiencing internet performance in their homes.
In July, the commission sent a letter to Canada’s largest wireless ISPs asking if it should mandate participation in the project, as Cartt.ca wrote about here.
The CRTC says in its letter Monday “Bell, Rogers, TELUS, and Xplore rejected the possibility of being mandated to provide the study’s recruitment materials to their subscribers. They raised concerns with the study’s conduct, methodology, and access to the study data.”
In response, the CRTC says it has worked with SamKnows, the broadband measurement company hired for the project, and Innovation Canada to make certain modifications to the study, some of which are outlined in its letter. Further information can be obtained directly from commission staff, it says.
The CRTC concludes its letter by saying it expects wireless ISPs — “and in particular Bell, Rogers, TELUS and Xplore” — to further the achievement of the study and to provide their fixed wireless service customers with the study participation recruitment materials prepared and provided by commission staff.
