It is launch day. Be sure to visit Xplornet’s website with the countdown to the launch of Canada’s 4G satellite for rural and remote broadband.

I’ll have photos and video when I return from Kazakhstan.

A group of 12 rural ISPs has published an open letter to the Industry Minister seeking changes to the way spectrum is typically auctioned.

A year ago, I wrote:

The way spectrum has been getting auctioned, rural areas are bundled in with the urban centres. So, the carriers who buy more spectrum to serve the densely populated big cities end up controlling the less dense areas as well – in a sense, they get the rural licenses for free. How can we ensure that rural spectrum isn’t being hoarded without being deployed to the benefit of rural residents?

The letter from the rural ISPs says: “The solution is remarkably simple – set aside rural areas from urban areas and deal with them separately.”

The open letter has been appearing in The Hill Times.

As this post gets published, I should be landing in Moscow, en route to the Baikonur Kosmodrome, to watch the launch of Xplornet’s 4G satellite.

On Friday, I wrote about how this new satellite is designed to bring faster and more affordable broadband connections to more Canadians in rural and remote areas, those who live and work beyond the reach of terrestrial facilities.

Xplornet is also making significant investments in regional infrastructure to support connectivity to its satellites. Last week, Xplornet announced the successful completion of a multi-million dollar 4G satellite ground station near Fort McMurray, Alberta. Xplornet is Alberta’s leading provider of rural broadband service. The Fort McMurray gateway announcement comes on the heels of a similar facility being completed near St. John’s.

This week’s launch of Viasat-1 will be streamed live. Early next year, a second 4G satellite, Jupiter, will be launched to complete the coverage. Xplornet is investing hundreds of millions of dollars in Canada to bridge the urban/rural broadband divide.

This week’s launch should be celebrated by all who have been working to advance Canada’s digital agenda.

Some of the initial write-ups of Bell’s 4 screen coverage of the Montreal Canadiens suggested that we are seeing a test of the CRTC’s new Vertical Integration rules.

I disagree.

Recall that the CRTC said:

Following its examination of consolidation in the broadcasting industry, the CRTC has decided to:

• …
• Allow companies to offer exclusive programming to their Internet or mobile customers provided that it is produced specifically for an Internet portal or a mobile device. This includes supplementary programming such as behind-the-scenes video clips of a television program, as well as original content.

From the Bell press release:

“Bell customers now have preferred access to new HabsTV videos on the screen of their choice, whenever and wherever they want.”

HabsTV goes behind the scenes with the players of hockey’s most celebrated team to offer Bell Mobility, Bell Fibe TV, Bell Satellite TV and Bell Internet customers special access to new video, broadcast twice a week.

The CRTC specifically identified “behind the scenes” as a permitted class of exclusive programming, so it is hard to see how this is “a test case on the CRTC’s new regulations for vertically integrated companies.” This does not appear to be content that was primarily made for broadcast TV.

Are we going to let companies compete in developing and offering enhanced value and differentiation to consumers, without calling for the regulator to interrupt each service to enter the marketplace?

I am off to Baikonur, Kazakhstan next week to watch the launch of Xplornet’s 4G satellite, designed to bring faster and more affordable broadband connections to more Canadians in rural and remote areas, beyond the reach of terrestrial facilities.

Xplornet has secured 100% of the Canadian Ka-band capacity on the Viasat-1 4th generation broadband satellite; it will use that entirely for rural broadband.

Together with the planned launch of a second, similar 4G satellite in 2012 and with its national fixed-wireless 4G network, Xplornet says it will effectively end Canada’s urban / rural digital-divide. ViaSat-1 can support customer download speeds of up to 25 Mbps. Its capacity is greater than the capacity of all current North American broadband satellites combined, with the ability to provide broadband service to 1.5 million customers in North America.

With the launch planned for Wednesday, Canada joins a group of other countries (including France, Germany, the UK, Australia and India) that have endorsed 4G satellite as the solution for ensuring universal access to affordable broadband. These next generation satellites deliver more than ten times the speed and capacity of current systems, at a much lower cost per customer.

I’m proud to be associated with the team at Xplornet and I look forward to sharing the excitement of next week’s launch with you. Be sure to monitor Xplornet’s countdown website for a live feed of the launch.