By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC on Friday adopted a proposal from the government’s Communications Research Centre (CRC) and will standardize the information carriers will be required to report to improve mobile wireless coverage mapping.
The regulator will require, at a resolution of 50 metres, annual reporting of three levels of terrestrial service: Level 1, a wireless signal strong enough to support emergency services, namely 911 calls and public alerts; Level 2, a signal strong enough to support the first level plus voice and video calls of at least 3 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload; and Level 3, a signal strong enough to support the first two levels as well as speeds of at least 10 Mbps download and 2 Mbps upload.
To ease the burden, the CRTC, which launched the consultation earlier this year, will require only level 1 reporting, which includes 2G networks, for the next survey, with the higher levels following sometime after that. To help Canadians understand the kind of mobile coverage they are getting, the public information will include plain-language explanations for how to interpret the three levels of coverage, the CRTC said.
“Once the new standard is implemented, Canadians, public safety organizations, municipalities, provinces, territories, Indigenous organizations, accessibility groups, and consumer and other organizations will be able to know which providers, technologies, and signal strength levels are predicted to be available by location,” the CRTC said Friday, adding it will revisit the standard to take into consideration the phasing out of legacy – and the introduction of future (6G) – technologies.
Carriers opposed such standardized reporting because of what they say are unnecessary burdens. While the CRTC acknowledged their opposition, it said the carriers already use predictive coverage models for their reporting, “and can generate reports based on signal strength levels.”
The regulator will not require indoor coverage strength, heeding the request of carriers who said the measurements are highly variable and so modelling would be impractical. It also said it will not require reporting on service quality – e.g. latency, packet loss, call drop rates – because some carriers don’t have the ability to report that information and signal strength alone is sufficient. It also won’t require coverage reporting for satellite-to-mobile technology, as some had requested. That said, the CRTC noted it will continue to monitor the standard for any necessary changes.
The regulator will, as it already does, share the data with Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED), which inputs the data for its national broadband map.
The CRTC said the lack of standardization made it difficult for the CRTC and ISED to “validate the data submitted and generate coverage maps that consumers can trust.
“Further, the lack of a standardized definition of ‘coverage’ poses problems for other levels of government and organizations that require accurate and timely mobile coverage information for public safety and emergency response, municipal planning, economic development, and funding programs to address coverage and service gaps,” the regulator continued.
Photo via Bell
