Wireless spectrum needs to be used, Ottawa warns telecoms

Industry Canada says telecom companies that have been sitting on wireless spectrum for years will have to use it or lose it starting next March.

In a news release Thursday, Industry Minister James Moore said wireless companies will lose the right to use wireless spectrum they already paid for if it's not being used to offer services to Canadians by March 2014.

The spectrum is in the 2,300- and 3,500-MHz band and unrelated to the upcoming auction of new, more powerful 700-MHz spectrum.

'It's somewhat stranded spectrum.'- Telecom analyst Troy Crandall

"Beginning in March 2014, 2300 MHz and 3500 MHz spectrum licences will be subject to renewal," Moore said in a release. "These spectrum licences contained conditions requiring that the spectrum be used for fixed wireless access, which represents the most affordable high-speed internet access for many rural Canadians."

"Our government will only renew spectrum licences for those holders that have met all conditions of licence. Those that have not used the spectrum will lose it," Moore said.

Those bands of spectrum are already being used to transmit wireless signals in various parts of the country. But some portions of that spectrum are not currently being used, despite having been paid for by telecom firms several years ago.

They're typically in remote, rural communities, telecom analyst Troy Crandall of MacDougall, MacDougall & Mactier in Toronto said in an interview Thursday.

"It was for broadband wireless for communities where DSL did not make sense," he said. "The hope was to stick up a tower and connect using wireless broadband. Bell and Rogers's intention was right [but] the technology wasn’t quite there."

"It's somewhat stranded spectrum," he said.

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• Joanne
• 15 Nov 2013 22:59
• 0

U.S. FCC to wireless carriers: agree on phone unlocking policy or face rules

WASHINGTON, Nov 14 (Reuters) - The top U.S.telecommunications regulator on Thursday demanded that wireless providers voluntarily agree on the rights of consumers to unlockmobile devices once contracts end, or the Federal CommunicationsCommission will make it a rule.

At issue is whether cellphone buyers, who often get newdevices at a heavily subsidized price in return for committing to long-term contracts, should be able to take their gadgetswith them when they change carriers.

The FCC and the wireless trade group CTIA have been workingfor eight months on developing a policy for the industry's Consumer Code that would address the rights of phone owners tounlock their devices.

In a letter to CTIA President Steve Largent on Thursday, FCCChairman Tom Wheeler urged the industry to adopt the new unlocking policy within weeks, before the holiday shoppingseason.

"Enough time has passed, and it is now time for the industryto act voluntarily or for the FCC to regulate," Wheeler said in the letter posted online.

According to Wheeler's letter, the carriers agree thatconsumers should be able to unlock their devices once their contracts are fulfilled but have not agreed to a policy ofnotifying customers when their device is eligible for unlockingor automatically unlocking the device when it becomes eligible.

"Absent the consumer's right to be informed abouteligibility, any voluntary program would be a hollow shell, "Wheeler said in his letter.

The ban on unlocking originates in the U.S. copyright lawoverseen by the Library of Congress. The White House in March responded to an online petition protesting the law and sidedwith the thousands who signed it.

Lawmakers have introduced bills for a legislative fix butconsumer advocates have urged the FCC, the agency that regulates the wireless industry, to get involved.

In a statement on Thursday, CTIA's vice president forregulatory affairs, Scott Bergmann, said the trade association would continue discussions with Wheeler and that consumers nowcan take advantage of a "wide variety" of unlocked devices and"liberal" unlocking policies.

He added that not all devices can be switched from oneprovider to another because of their technological or engineering specifications.

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• Joanne
• 15 Nov 2013 23:34
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