By Denis Carmel
ROBERT GHIZ, THE Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) president and CEO gave a strong speech at the virtual Telecom Summit on Wednesday focusing on the importance of the wireless industry and its contribution to Canadian economy and the role Canadian carriers continue to play in the pandemic.
“We are among world leaders in 4G network performance,” he said. “Opensignal’s benchmarking report earlier this year found that Canadians not only enjoy the fastest download speeds in North America, but the fastest in the world.”
Also, “a study commissioned by the U.S. industry association CTIA, looked at how the U.S. compares to its international peers when it comes to the value of wireless services. Guess what they found? They found that Canada has the best value among G7 counterparts when it comes to wireless plans,” he added.
“Clearly, the investments made by facilities-based carriers over the years—$70 billion since 1987—are resulting in unparalleled quality and service for Canadians. We need to ensure that the right policies are in place to encourage continued investment in Canada’s wireless networks,” Ghiz said.
“Cisco estimates that mobile data traffic in Canada will grow four-fold from 2017 to 2022; a compound annual growth rate of 34%. Cisco also predicts that by 2022, mobile data traffic in Canada will be equivalent to 2x the volume of what the entire Canadian internet was in 2005,” he went on.
He concluded that the wireless networks are driving Canadian economy and with 5G, the wireless industry will contribute even more: “We already know that 5G will change the way we live and work. Earlier reports from Accenture in partnership with the CWTA estimate that 5G will deliver an additional $40B in GDP to the Canadian economy by 2026 and create an estimated 250,000 full-time jobs in that time frame.”
5G will also play a key role in fighting climate change. “The results are clear: a fast and effective deployment of 5G wireless networks will play a key role in helping Canada achieve its climate change reduction commitments.
“Mobile technologies have the potential to address 23% of Canada’s total 2030 emission reduction target by 2025,” he added.
But…
“The job creation, the boost to GDP, the carbon abatement—5G can bring these things, but it cannot happen without significant private sector investment. But the required level of investment can only happen if we have a predictable and stable regulatory environment that encourages such investment,” he warned.
He mentioned the CRTC Review & Vary appeal of on the TPIA wholesale rates decision being decided by the CRTC and the still unknown result of the CRTC’s wireless policy review.
“Without clarity around these fundamental pieces, and a high degree of certainty that the rules will not be changed yet again in the future, facilities-based providers’ will have difficulty accessing the level of capital needed to make major investments in next generation technologies and network expansion to underserved communities.”
“While we appreciate the Government of Canada’s commitments such as their announcement earlier this month on universal broadband, it does not replace the need for private investment and a regulatory environment that encourages that investment,” he concluded.
Screen cap of Ghiz’s presentation borrowed from the CWTA Twitter feed.
