By Ahmad Hathout
CANADA’S LARGEST INTERNET service providers say they are pleased with the federal government’s infusion of cash with the $1.75 billion Universal Broadband Fund, but some are concerned about the speed objectives.
On Monday, the federal government announced the program was open for applications with an additional $750 million in new money and $150 million of it dedicated to a faster stream for projects that can deploy by November 2021. All projects must meet the speed threshold of 50 Mbps download and 10 Mbps upload.
Rogers, Bell and Telus praised the announcement as one that will help connect those economically-challenging areas — sparsely populated remote and rural regions of the country. The Big Three have already invested in many rural territories and said they look forward to participating in the UBF. Shaw Communications declined to comment.
Concern, however, remains about how the UBF will address speed and technology-scaling over this coming decade, by which the government expects the entire country to have access to 50/10 speeds. While the UBF will have a preference for a project’s ability to scale up to higher speeds and user capacity, that consideration will be weighed against factors including “relative timeliness, additional cost and necessary technical limitations,” the guidelines say. Currently, the speed targets are a minimum – but mandatory – for any project to receive funding.
“The problem for me is not the number of households [to be connected]; it’s partly the fact that that speed target — 50/10 — is going to be out of date by 2026,” said Helen Hambly, a professor at the University of Guelph and who works on data broadband project R2B2. “It’s already out of date now.”
The CRTC designated broadband a basic service in December 2016, when it set 50/10 as a target and set up its own $750-million Broadband Fund, which is currently in a second round of applications. Back then, 50/10 was considered an “ambitious” target — but technology moves fast.
“I work with data that shows us that there are communities right now just at 50/10… or just below it or just above it, who are suffering — like they are underserved,” Hambly said, with a chuckle. “So my concern is that they’re having problems with multiple connected devices in the household; working from home; bringing a business to be based at home; having the kids go to school doing teleservice, health services at home; and why? Because we’re all at home right now,” due to Covid.
The government says in its guidelines: “Applications employing current, widely-adopted technologies are all expected to pass this criterion. Projects proposing to use obsolete or end-of-life technologies may fail to meet the requirements for this criterion.”
Cybera, an Alberta-based not-for-profit organization that supports the province’s public sector to achieve better broadband, said while it is optimistic about the program and its rapid stream, it is still concerned about the speed target.
“Cybera has long-argued that we need more ambitious targets for minimum broadband speeds,” the company’s president and CEO Barb Carra told Cartt.ca. “A goal of 50 Mbps upload/10 Mbps download is too low. You can barely run a video meeting on a 50 Mbps connection. How can we expect people to achieve anything innovative or meaningful online in 5-10 years’ time, if the minimum requirement for connectivity doesn’t match our current needs? Our targets should scale to meet the digital requirements of the future.”
Of course, if you’re in some far north regions where the best internet you can get is 5 Mbps, and the most affordable plan is 512 Kbps (these plans exist now in many communities) 50/10 is going to look pretty good.
What’s more, despite the additional $750 million, the funding levels may be a concern to connect the entire country. To put the $1.75 billion in perspective, the Ontario government announced last week that it was investing $1 billion in Ontario alone.
It’s a “drop in the bucket,” Hambly said.
The federal government — through its many broadband programs — said it has invested more just north of $6 billion in broadband, including $2 billion for the Infrastructure Bank last month, since 2015.
The government will favour applicants whose end product will be low cost, will open access for other carriers to use network space for enhanced competition, and who can obtain a partner for access to third-party passive infrastructure, according to the guidelines, which have come from numerous consultations with many stakeholders over the years.
Hambly said the affordability component is definitely a step-up and has come from a government policy posture of more accessible telecommunications. That is something TekSavvy highlighted in a press release this week, noting a combination of government spending and a CRTC implementation of lower wholesale internet rates would achieve the federal government policy balance of increased investment and lower prices for consumers.
CNOC, an organization that represents smaller carriers and that praised the announcement, said it will be “reviewing the eligibility criteria carefully to identify opportunities to contribute, and the eligibility criteria in respect of open access so that Canadians, even in the harder to serve regions, are able to exercise choice.”
SSi Micro, which has said this month that it needs federal help to continue offering broadband and wireless services in Nunavut or it has to increase prices, told Cartt.ca that it is still studying the UBF to “fully understand the parameters and limits of the program.”
