Canadians must be swayed first for gov’t to get on board 5G: panel

OTTAWA — Canadians need to see the value of, and get behind, 5G technologies before politicians can be persuaded to take action on helping launch the technology on a broad scale, a conference on the future of 5G in Canada heard on Tuesday. “There is very little trust of governments in IT projects…for politicians to get behind large-scale IT projects or large-scale adoption initiatives by governments on technology,” Scott Bradley, vice-president of corporate affairs at Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.’s Canadian division, told a crowd at the 5G Canada conference hosted by the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) at the Westin Hotel in Ottawa. “I think it’s something we haven’t taken a look at as we look at 5G adoption.” The comments reflect similar statements made by a consultant with McKinsey & Company, who earlier this month at a conference about Internet of things (IoT) in Toronto said that consumers need to see simple value propositions for IoT devices before there can be wider adoption of the technology. Bradley sat on a panel with three other experts, including president of the Communications Research Centre Jean Luc Bérubé; Eshwar Pittampalli, director of wireless technology at the CTIA and David Watt, vice-president of regulatory at Rogers Communications Inc. Cindy Cook, who is the director of 5G spectrum projects at the Innovation Science and Economic Development (ISED), moderated the panel. Bradley said that there will need to be a sales pitch to convince Canadians that their money is going toward “driving efficiencies.” “It’s going to be very difficult — particularly at the political level — for politicians to get behind decisions and those things that we would look at to enable…5G technologies as we move forward,” he added. He said one of the best examples to show 5G’s value is the self-driving or automated car. “What’s important from a political perspective for automated vehicles is that it’s hands-on,” he said. “If we start looking at those drivers that would get people to think differently about the future or 5G, automated vehicles are a critical driver for us in terms of helping to lead the policy changes that will have to be made across industry verticals.” He reasoned that it is this public support — when people recognize the “public policy drivers” that need to happen to enable this technology — that is required “for politicians to get on-board.” The panel also discussed the importance of having a unified voice for the country on the technology. “A clear role for the government in all of this is to ensure that all players are on the table and everybody contributes at the same time,” Bérubé said. “Otherwise, any one of the sectors or players will not be able to keep up,” adding the government can’t drive everything because the “pace is just too rapid” and the “complexity is just too high.” The issue of the availability of spectrum was also raised on the panel, with most agreeing that it is an absolute necessity that the government continues to supply the spectrum 5G networks will require. “The primary goal of the government, at this point — while we’re sorting out a bolder agenda and everything else — is to ensure that whatever we come up with…make spectrum available,” Bérubé said. Watt added that the reason for that is because there’s going to be much more traffic on 5G networks and there will need to be more spectrum to carry it. He said Rogers has deployed “virtually all of the spectrum” that it has. — With reporting by Ahmad Hathout at ahathout@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

Canadians must be swayed first for gov’t to get on board 5G: panel

News | November 30, 2016

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Canadians must be swayed first for gov’t to get on board 5G: panel

News | November 30, 2016

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