{"id":7644,"date":"2014-12-18T16:20:31","date_gmt":"2014-12-18T21:20:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=7644"},"modified":"2014-12-18T16:20:31","modified_gmt":"2014-12-18T21:20:31","slug":"releasing-more-spectrum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mhgoldberg.com\/blog\/?p=7644","title":{"rendered":"Releasing more spectrum"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>At the close of the financial markets, Industry Minister James Moore released a series of rulings<\/a> on wireless telecommunications spectrum,\u00a0making more airwaves available for Canada’s fixed and mobile wireless communications services providers.<\/p>\n

Two months ago, in the wake of Minister Moore’s response to submissions filed in the 3500MHz process, I wrote “The consultative process works<\/a>“. Today, Minister Moore followed through<\/a> with his October 9 commitment: “Under no circumstances will our government take spectrum licences away from any local Internet service provider that is providing Internet service to rural Canadians.”<\/p>\n

It is gratifying to see Industry Canada responsive to the appeals by rural municipalities and service providers focusing on low density communities.<\/p>\n

In other decisions released today, the Minister dealt with the AWS-3 auction<\/a> process, the AWS-4 consultation<\/a>, the 24\/28\/38 GHz<\/a> consultation and launched a consultation on the 600MHz band<\/a>. There was also a decision released on backhaul spectrum<\/a>.<\/p>\n

More mobile spectrum, being made available for service providers to try to stay ahead of consumer demand for broadband wireless access.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Minister Moore has overseen spectrum management actions that have significantly increased the amount of spectrum accessible for deployment by competitive service providers.<\/p>\n

On Twitter<\/a>, he released a graphic just prior to the announcement, claiming that competitors share of spectrum has grown from 2% in 2006 to 25% in 2015.<\/p>\n

The US wireless association, CTIA<\/a>, released an infographic<\/a> last week that shows why service providers need more spectrum. Consumers are upgrading their devices, watching more video and continuing to download more bits at faster speeds – driving a continual need for carriers to invest in network capacity.<\/p>\n

Still, should we be concerned about how spectrum is managed in Canada?<\/p>\n

The 2006 Telecom Policy Review Panel<\/a> observed:<\/p>\n

Canada is one of the few OECD countries where a politically appointed minister remains responsible for spectrum licensing and management.
\n…
\nThe key benefits of having an independent regulator include:<\/p>\n