OTTAWA – The big players in Canada’s wireless broadband space have told Industry Canada that it should avoid adopting the U.S. plan for the 2500 MHz band and instead opt for the international band plan. They say the economics resulting from such a decision are much better for the Canadian wireless sector.
“Harmonization of the Canadian band plan with the globally adopted band plan will be essential if Canadians are to benefit from the global ecosystem for wireless network technology and consumer devices that are already developing for the band,” Inukshuk Internet tells Industry Canada in comments filed earlier this month. “Globally harmonized network technology and consumer devices will provide Canadian service providers and consumers with the broadest array of alternatives, the most advanced features and the lowest cost.”
The international band plan calls for the adoption of very wide contiguous channels – 20 MHz but as high as 40 MHz – to support high speed mobile broadband. Industry Canada has already set rules (DGSO-001-10) that will allow for the introduction of a wide variety of services in the 2500 MHz band, including broadcasting and mobile services.
Quebecor Media Inc. lauded Industry Canada for proposing to harmonize with the international band plan. The company, which recently launched its mobile services, says this will encourage the deployment of next-generation services such as LTE, bringing great benefits to Canadian consumers.
Inukshuk – a partnership between Bell Canada and Rogers Communications – says its ability to grow and offer data speeds that consumers are looking for will be stunted if the government opts for the U.S. band plan.
“Restricting a licensee such as Inukshuk from harnessing an adequate amount of wideband contiguous blocks of BRS spectrum will impair its ability to deliver the network performance and user experience that are necessary to satisfy existing demand and to further stimulate mobile data adoption and usage,” says Inukshuk. “Wider channels will drive greater spectral efficiency, and will allow scarce mobile spectrum to be used as efficiently as possible, thereby maximizing the economic and social benefits that can be derived from the spectrum.”
While there is general agreement on adopting the international band plan, other elements of the consultation are seeing some division. The licensing of guard bands and whether licence-exempt services should be allowed in them is one such issue.
Telus says that the guard bands can be licensed as long as there is an obligation to avoid interference with neighbouring services. The company adds licence-exempt systems should not be allowed in the guard bands.
While SaskTel and MTS Allstream agree with Telus on the licence-exempt issue, they believe the guard bands should be held in reserve and remain unlicensed. This, the companies say, will help avoid potential interference issues between services.
Intel and Motorola Canada, however, say it’s better to license the guard bands than let the spectrum lay fallow.
“If allocated, they could be utilized to provide some services,” Intel says, noting there are interference techniques that could be implemented to protect adjacent services.
A decision stemming from this consultation will result in a band plan around which the department can hold a spectrum auction for the unassigned 2500 MHz licences.
