By Ahmad Hathout
During the lunchtime keynote on the second day of the Canadian Telecom Summit, Bell Mobility president Claire Gillies (above) said spectrum costs charged by the federal government are too high.
Coming off the most expensive spectrum auction in its history – a nearly $9-billion investment in 3.5 GHz frequencies said to be crucial for 5G – Gillies said this is not sustainable because service providers like Bell need to use the money to continue investing in future technologies.
“We have to change this,” she said during her keynote Tuesday. “Because we want our money going into investment – that’s where we want our money.” Gillies said Bell will be investing another $26 billion to deploy 5G infrastructure in the next few years.
She reiterated what the large telecoms have repeatedly echoed to the government: they invest more in their networks than anywhere in the world. “You’re looking at these themes: really big country, not a lot of people, massive costs associated with spectrum. But yet we invest… because we know that at the foundation of everything, we are creating the infrastructure of innovation,” Gillies said.
Gillies noted the foundation of networks have allowed big technology companies, like Amazon, Google and Facebook, to “realize their future and full potential.”
In fact, Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr in the U.S. suggested big tech companies contribute to a fund that subsidizes basic telecom services to all Americans because those companies benefit from the internet infrastructure.
Discussion about spectrum is not limited to its cost. NDP MP Brian Masse has called on the federal government to use those billions from its auctions and reinvest it back into driving broadband expansion.
Gillies also noted the industry needs to cooperate and collaborate and innovate “like we never have before,” alluding to the need for the country to get ahead of next-generation technologies like 5G and not fall behind in the global race.
Bell and Telus are currently in court trying to argue that Quebecor’s Videotron does not qualify for 3.5 GHz spectrum licenses in Western Canada because it does not have adequate facilities there. Videotron won the licenses through the set-aside process, which saw parts of the spectrum reserved for smaller and regional providers who cannot compete with deeper-pocketed larger rivals.
Earlier in the conference, Telus criticized the set-aside policy as harming investment in underserved communities. Setting aside spectrum, the reasoning goes, reduces the available supply, thus increasing prices for all other bidders.
When asked about what she thinks about the set-aside policy, Gillies said those who bid for those reserved chunks of the spectrum “are not the ones leading the overall industry in terms of innovation.
“I would say,” Gillies said, “very consistently from a Bell perspective, we also believe there should be a common ground and a common approach for all carriers both existing and established as well as people who would like to enter the industry.”
Photo borrowed from the Canadian Telecom Summit’s website.
