GATINEAU – The telecommunications regulator should let market forces and targeted government funding finish the broadband job, according to Quebecor Media. The company told the CRTC on Thursday that it should coordinate efforts on affordability and adoption with the federal government, something other companies have also said during the hearing.
Manon Brouillette, president and CEO of Quebecor’s cable, broadband and wireless division Vidéotron, noted during her opening remarks that private sector efforts along with government programs are showing results. In fact, she said that by 2017, 97% of Canadians will have access to broadband as a result of the Connecting Canadians program.
“You don’t need to reinvent the wheel,” she said in French.
The Connecting Canadians program is already there and has proven to be very effective over the last number of years in extending the reach of broadband networks. According to July 2015 figures from Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED, formerly Industry Canada), 355,000 households were to be connected to broadband – 75,000 more than anticipated under the program. Even more surprising, the cost to connect these households was 60% less than the $305 million budgeted for these activities.
Brouillette added the program has proven to be flexible in allowing contributions from other parts of government as well as meeting the specific requirements for more remote communities that rely on satellite communications. She said that the CRTC should recommend “strongly” to ISED that it relaunch the program with the $500 million announced in Budget 2016.
Vice-chair of telecommunications Peter Menzies wondered how $100 million a year for five years would result in universal broadband access. Dennis Beland, vice-president of regulatory affairs for telecommunications at QMI, said it all comes back to technology and that it will connect all Canadians.
“What the Connecting Canadian program and the new $500 million from the federal government does really is accelerate that job,” he said. “That’s why we’re so insistent with our recommendation about renewing that program, maybe tweaked, but renewing it because you can do that fast.”
Beland added that the quantum of money available will go a long ways in connecting the remaining unconnected. The last wave of the Connecting Canadians program connected approximately 300,000 homes for $300 million, or $1,000 per home.
“Even if the next wave is a little harder to get to than the last wave, maybe not $1,000 but $2,000, that’s still an awful lot of money, an awful lot of people that you can connect quickly.” Dennis Beland, Vidéotron
“Even if the next wave is a little harder to get to than the last wave, maybe not $1,000 but $2,000, that’s still an awful lot of money, an awful lot of people that you can connect quickly if you renew the existing model rather than spending two years studying a new model,” he argued.
The Canadian Network Operators Consortium (CNOC) agreed that a broad based funding program is what’s needed for completing the broadband work. The organization of independent ISPs argued though that rather than a federal government led initiative similar to the Connecting Canadians program, the CRTC could create and oversee an arm’s length third party similar to the Canadian Telecommunications Contribution Consortium tasked with funding broadband to those unconnected.
“Essentially this is a neutral third party arm’s length funding organization,” explained Lynne Hamilton, CNOC’s government relations consultant. This would remove potential political influence from funding decisions, she added, noting this organization would make funding decision based on need, technology and economics.
CNOC acknowledged that the CRTC would have to be granted some additional powers from the federal government, but said there’s no need to wait to begin discussing this approach with the Liberals. Chris Tacit, CNOC counsel, noted that there are previous instances of this happening and that it’s better for the commission and the federal government to collaborate on national broadband.
On Wednesday, Bragg Communications (Eastlink) noted that “the elephant in the room” is the economics to take broadband to currently unconnected homes. Market forces haven’t solved that and based on what Lee Bragg, chief executive, had to say, they won’t.
He noted that a $100 million project to connect 20,000 homes in Nova Scotia using fixed wireless technology still didn’t connect everyone. Just to do 1,600 homes of this group using wireline would cost $45 million or $72,000 per home. Doing the full 20,000 homes would set Eastlink back approximately $1.5 billion.
CNOC agreed that the cost to finish the broadband job is going to be considerable, but added the benefits shouldn’t be underestimated.
“I think we’re at an inflection point as a country,” said Tacit. “This is a very analogous project to the railways of the 1800s and it could be just as beneficial in terms of its impact for just as long if we get it right and do it quickly or else we could be bypassed by those who do do it and be left behind.”
