GATINEAU – The Government of Yukon and the Kativik Regional Government both told the CRTC on the first day of its basic service obligation (BSO) hearing that broadband is an essential service and that the Commission must take regulatory action to ensure remote and northern communities have future-proof high-speed services.
“Yukon’s position is that the solutions in this proceeding should enable all Canadians in both urban and rural areas, in all regions of Canada, to have access to fast, affordable and reliable broadband service,” Jim Pratt, a consultant with the Yukon government, said in his opening remarks.
He noted though that it’s more important for the Commission to establish a broadband standard than it is to include a new broadband as part of basic telecom services.
“If measures are adopted that provide subsidy support for broadband service and transport connectivity in high cost areas while enabling the prospective operation of market forces, it could be possible to alleviate the responsibility on a single provider of an obligation to serve,” said Pratt.
CRTC chair Jean-Pierre Blais (pictured in a CPAC.ca screen cap) wondered how this type of approach would work in the Yukon (which features a large Bell-owned incumbent telco in Northwestel as the dominant provider, plus a few much smaller competitors).
Pratt noted that if, after providing a broadband subsidy, economic growth in the region happened and the population increased, then there would be more economic opportunity for competitive providers. “Then a la forbearance model, it’s possible to, either as we’ve suggested in this submission and previously, to maybe sunset some of the subsidy provisions or provide some incentives a la price caps where you ratchet down the subsidy,” he said.
The Yukon government has proposed a 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload as being a minimum basic broadband standard. The idea is to provide users with a high enough standard to handle potential future applications.
“From a user and policy perspective, it seems every time an expectation is established – this would be the right number based on the number of uses – that consumers or providers find some new application and the expectations that we all have today, even as well informed as we can be, will not be as accurate as what actually happens several years down the road,” said Pratt.
“I do have a concern about the risk of a standard becoming a ceiling for users in the North that if there is, in those situations where a subsidy is required and there is only a single provider, there’s no impetus for that single provider to adapt beyond that standard that is established.”
In its appearance, the Kativik Regional Government (KRG) provided context for its Northern Quebec region (north of Labrador, remote enough there appears to be no Google Streetview of the area). Broadband services are currently at 1.5 Mbps download and 384 kbps upload and later this fall, a new deployment (a combination of HSPA+ and LTE wireless) will increase speeds to 3 Mbps download.
“Because of a lack of long-term national policy on broadband development, these initiatives have become short-term and unpredictable.” – Jean-Francois Dumoulin, Kativik Regional Government
The local government isn’t content with those types of speeds and is currently in discussions with the Government of Quebec to bring fibre to the region. It would cost approximately $163 million to deploy fibre-based broadband throughout the area.
KRG also argued that it’s not only a lack of transport infrastructure that needs financing support but so too do the operational costs. The government noted that while programs such as the National Satellite Initiative, Broadband Canada and Connecting Canadians have provided much needed transport network funding, there is only minimal financial support available for operational expenditures.
“These initiatives are vital, but they do not address operating costs,” said Jean-Francois Dumoulin, a representative from the KRG. “Moreover, because of a lack of long-term national policy on broadband development, these initiatives have become short-term and unpredictable.”
Independent ISP TekSavvy Solutions also appeared on the first day of the hearing and argued the Commission’s first step should not be to immediately subsidize transport facilities in remote and rural areas if there aren’t any. Rather if there’s isn’t transport then the Commission should try to identify competitive alternatives or consider a subsidy.
“But, where there is insufficient competition for transport on a route, and prices are neither just nor reasonable, then we think section 34 of the Telecom Act requires the Commission to tariff that transport, before subsidizing additional players,” said Bram Abramson, chief legal and regulatory officer.
The company suggested that the Regulator review its forbearance of inter-exchange private line transport as an option to address the lack of transport facilities.
TekSavvy argued that the CRTC needs to redefine the BSO to put broadband access at its core, rather than voice. Its suggested definition is as follows: “individual line local broadband and capacity to connect to the Internet via high-speed data transmission made available, where feasible, at reasonable wholesale local rates.”
The hearing continues tomorrow with the Nunavut Government, Nunavut Broadband Development Corp. and SSi Group of Companies among the presenters.
You can listen in on the hearing on the CRTC’s web site, or watch the proceeding at CPAC.ca
