Nunavut senator touts law that could improve communications in North

A bill that would require telecom companies to make better use of licences that connect Canadians virtually is on its way to the House of Commons.

Nunavut Sen. Dennis Patterson’s Senate Public Bill S-242, An Act to Amend the Radiocommunication Act, proposes a “use-it-or-lose-it framework” for spectrum licences.

Spectrum licences allow companies to use a range of frequencies in certain geographic areas for their communications networks.

It’s what enables people to access things like broadband internet, mobile phones, GPS tracking systems, public Wi-Fi and TV and radio programming.

Patterson said his bill, which passed third reading in the Senate on April 20, would improve access to wireless services in rural and underserved communities like those in Nunavut.

Currently, telecommunication companies can acquire spectrum licences in federal-run auctions but they aren’t required to make use of it all.

This is especially a problem for rural and remote areas, where a company might hold a licence for a certain range of frequencies but, because it’s not seen as economically viable, it sits unused and inaccessible to the public.

“What’s happening now is that telecom companies who are operating are tending to favour larger communities, so we have a disparity in services such as they are between the larger and smaller communities,” Patterson said.

The bill proposes three major changes:

• It would mandate that telecom companies deploy their spectrum to at least 50 per cent of the population within prescribed zones in a licence area;
• The bill would require that telecoms share under-used licences. Licences could be revoked, or a sub-licensing of under-serviced areas would be required if the deployment conditions are not met; and
• It would establish a civil liability mechanism allowing Canadians to sue telecom companies for damages if they lose access to the internet because that company’s licence has been revoked due to negligence.

In addition to giving licence-holders incentive to use their spectrum, the bill would help deter spectrum trafficking, which is when a licence is bought through federal auction and then sold at a premium in order to make a large profit.

Patterson points to a couple of examples of this.

He said in 2008, Shaw Communications bought a particular spectrum licence for $190 million and sold that licence for $350 million in 2013. Then in 2017, Shaw purchased another spectrum licence from a company called Vidéotron for $430 million, which netted Vidéotron a $243-million profit.

Patterson hopes the bill will become law before the next spectrum auction in the fall, so bidders will understand their obligations to deploy to rural and remote areas along with the larger centres.

“Broadband access is critical to Nunavut in particular because of the vital services that we rely on here, including health and telehealth, education, business and economic development and communications with the broader world,” he said.

“It’s about way more than streaming on Netflix or gaming. It’s vital to the growth and development of our territory.”

Patterson acknowledges that in the North there is also a need for infrastructure to allow people to have access to various telecommunications services.

“This is one small piece of a much larger puzzle,” he said.