By Christopher Guly
OTTAWA – As Canada’s rural fixed wireless industry contends with the loss of spectrum in the 3.65 GHz band in favour of the incumbents, more than 165,000 rural customers could be soon left without wireless internet access for months, if not years, warns the executive director of the Canadian Association of Wireless Internet Service Providers (CanWISP).
Innovation Canada (ISED) “has decided that it is going to kick us out of that spectrum and auction it off to the major players for 5G mobile use,” said Jonathan Black in an interview following CanWISP’s 10th annual conference held last week in Gatineau, Que.
“The carriers said they wanted 100 megahertz each to deliver good 5G service and wanted it all in a continguous way,” said Black, who believes that a total of 450 MHz would be allocated for 5G mobile service providers.
He explained that ISED has provided spectrum to which rural ISPs can transfer, but equipment is not available for that new spectrum.
“In its noncompetitive licensing consultation, ISED’s proposal was that the power would be lower than we can use today in 3.65; no one provider could cover more than 20 per cent of an area; and it set fees that were higher than some of the auction spectrum fees,” said Black.
“The analysis we did on the proposed fee structure was a multiple of the revenue that our ISPs get from using that spectrum. In other words, it was totally unworkable.”
At last week’s CanWISP conference, Matthew Kellison, acting director general of the spectrum policy branch at ISED, said that a decision on what rural ISPs can expect is “imminent.”
“I can pitch this as it is going to hurt rural ISPs,” said Black, who noted that the real victims “are rural Canadians who will not have wireless internet service.”
CanWISP estimates that the number of households and businesses impacted by the 3.65GHz spectrum claw-back could be over 165,000, involving 137 ISPs, according to an analysis conducted by Neil Smellie, the organization’s treasurer.
Black explained that the major carriers could use the spectrum to provide fixed wireless service.
“But we don’t know if they will,” said Black, who believes there are more than 200 rural ISPs across Canada, 56 of which are members of CanWISP.
“Show me a carrier who cares about rural,” he noted. “They have not proven in their history that they care about rural except when there was a requirement to serve dial tone.”
Rural ISPs could use other frequencies, but that would require a complete upgrade of their networks, including tower and customer equipment, to serve “the same customers in either the replacement spectrum that is offered or in an alternative spectrum that some are using today,” Black said.
He estimated that for some rural ISPs, it could take between two and three years to replace their equipment, and cost several million dollars to purchase new gear and install it – “and they won’t have any new customers.”
“The carriers are putting fibre into more rural areas, and as a Canadian, I guess I’m happy with that,” Black said. “But they are going after the densely populated areas first, which makes sense. That’s what their shareholders would expect: ‘Let’s go after the best return on investment.’ And those are the choice areas as well for the rural ISPs.”
Last month, the federal and Ontario governments announced over $13 million in funding to Bell Canada to provide high-speed internet access to more than 6,400 homes in rural Ottawa.
Black said that while Bell installed fibre in the 11 communities captured by the broadband initiative, “the existing ISP has gone out of business.”
Before the dual government announcement, it was reported that NorthWind Wireless – which brought internet to the heavily wooded, beach community of Constance Bay (which is part of the Bell project), when the ISP was established 17 years ago – closed its doors.
“Bell came in and took part of their network – and their market,” said Black.
“Spectrum that is being used to serve rural Canada is being taken away by ISED and auctioned off to large telecom companies, which may not use it to serve rural Canada or use it to over-serve urban Canada,” he said.
“It’s a reverse Robin Hood. It’s taking from the broadband poor and giving to the broadband rich.”
He explained that CanWISP has enlisted the support of Nunavut Senator Dennis Patterson, former premier of the Northwest Territories and a longtime advocate for northern and rural internet access, to push ISED to allocate 20% of the proceeds from the next spectrum auction – scheduled to begin on Oct. 24 toward the cost of replacing rural ISPs’ equipment.
“It doesn’t help companies like NorthWind that aren’t in business,” said Black. “It’s for those who might be able to survive as long as they can replace their gear.”
Last year, Patterson introduced Bill S-242, which would amend the Radiocommunication Act and require the deployment of “spectrum to provide service to at least 50% of the population within the geographic area covered by the spectrum license within three years of the license’s issuance.”
Bill S-242 is currently before the Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications.
Photo of CanWISP executive director Jonathan Black.
