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Issue link: https://digital.canadianlawyermag.com/i/50875
However, says Industry Canada spokesman Michel Cimpaye, the CRTC is re-examining the issue of usage-based billing to ensure that consumers and small Internet service providers are pro- tected. "Canadians have been very clear that they have concerns with earlier UBB decisions and the government expects the commission to take those concerns into account," he says. "The CRTC pro- ceeding is underway and we await its result in December." Major Internet service providers sell capacity to smaller resellers. In a bid to encourage competition in the technology marketplace, major telecom operators that have already made infrastructure investments are required to lease net- work bandwidth to smaller providers. Major providers charge customers extra if they download more than the monthly limits they set, typically between 20 and 60 gigabytes. Some small providers, how- ever, offer plans with 200-gigabyte ceil- ings and even unlimited use. The CRTC has also mandated that large telephone companies must con- tinue to offer residential subscribers a basic telephone line at a "reasonable rate." However, that rate can be gradually increased over the next three years to a maximum of $30 per month. But, the CRTC is cognizant that the landline will become a thing of the past sooner rather than later as their number decreases, due to the increasing popu- larity of affordable wireless plans and Internet-based phone services like Skype and other VoIP services. With both broadband and phone use issues in mind, Paradis says while gov- ernment has a role to play in regulatory issues and encouraging telecom invest- ment, change will be driven by private- sector telecom companies responding to consumer demand. On the wireless side, Paradis says the government is playing its part. "Our gov- ernment has opened the door to greater competition by setting aside advanced wireless spectrum, opening the airwaves to new entrants such as Public Mobile, Mobilicity, Videotron, and Globalive," he 30 • AUGUST 2011 says, adding leading wireless operators like Rogers, Bell, and Telus are upgrad- ing their networks to provide the fastest mobile data speeds commercially avail- able in North America. But Canadian businesses and con- sumers are demanding access to mobile broadband. "To ensure that additional spectrum is available to meet the needs of emerging broadband services and to fuel the growth of next-generation wireless, I can confirm that the government will be auctioning off 700 megahertz spectrum and 2,500 megahertz spectrum," says Paradis. " As part of an integrated regu- latory approach to the spectrum auction, we continue to examine tower sharing restrictions," he says. "We need access to risk capital." Peirce also says the plans to auction off 700 MHz spectrum is good for the industry and allow for greater Internet access for rural Canadians and further the digital economic strategy. "Seven hundred is ideal for wireless broadband deployment," he says. "It allows more coverage with less build-out." Also, he added, the government might consider adding rural deployment conditions to licenses. He does, though, have a minor criti- cism of the basic landline setup. "They should have redefined that basic service objective to include high-speed broad- fibre. Usage-based billing has been one lever . Someone's got to pay for the $40-million . . i don't see a realistic way for it to go away. CUrTiS ShaW, NorthwesTel inc.. and roaming and foreign investment." MTS Allstream is a subsidiary of Manitoba Telecom Services Inc., with two million customer connections span- ning business customers across Canada and residential consumers throughout the province of Manitoba. Its nation- al broadband and fibre-optic network spans almost 30,000 kilometres. Chief corporate officer Chris Peirce tells InHouse the business is divided into the incumbents such as MTS, Bell, and others who have established presence, and competitors — the more recent arrivals in the telecom scene. Peirce says the government is on the right track in its digital economy plans and agrees with usage-based billing. But, he says, what is holding the industry back to a degree is the lack of access to capital that foreign-ownership restrictions put in place. And, he's hopeful a majority government will be able to deal with that. "It's time to remove foreign investment INHOUSE band," he says. "In today's 21st century, it's hard to imagine communication without high-speed broadband." Curtis Shaw is vice president of consumer and small business for NorthwesTel Inc., which provides tele- communications and television services throughout Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, northern British Columbia and northern Alberta. He says govern- ment subsidies remain important for the provision of service in the four mil- lion square kilometres of remote areas NorthwesTel serves. "Government pro- grams fill in the broadband gap," he says. "We've been really focusing on bridging the digital divide, improving our foot- print, improving Internet speeds." Shaw says that includes installing thousands of kilometres of fibre-optic cable at a cost of $40 million. In addition to the company's 140 digital microwave towers, 95 must have their own power generation, which involves barging in