Move quickly on spectrum for 5G, Canadian gov’t told

OTTAWA — A panel of international spectrum policy experts and industry representatives gathered in Ottawa Thursday said the Canadian government should make more spectrum available and reconsider set-asides for auctions. They were responding to a question posed by moderator Janet Yale, who asked them what Canada should do to move forward successfully with 5G. The one-day International Telecommunications Society event, which discussed spectrum auction policy around the world, was hosted by Telus Corp. “Get lots of spectrum out there. 5G is super spectrum hungry, so as much spectrum as possible you can get out,” said Oliver Chapman, director of government and regulatory affairs at international wireless industry group GSMA. He said the government should make spectrum available “as early as there’s a business case to get it out there from an operator perspective.” Canada is gearing up for the 3.5 GHz spectrum auction -- considered as especially important for 5G -- in 2020, which will be followed by an auction of millimetre wave spectrum 2021. During this fall’s election campaign, the Liberals, who now hold a minority government, promised changes to auction rules in their platform. A party backgrounder said that while currently, the highest bidder is awarded spectrum, a re-elected Liberal government would “award spectrum access based on consumer choice, affordability and broad access.” Jan-Hendrik Jochum, who is responsible for spectrum management and projects at Deutsche Telekom AG, agreed, saying the Canadian government should “make available most possible amount of spectrum in a timely manner without any restrictions in a fair and transparent procedure.” Evan Kwerel, senior economic advisor with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, put it succinctly: “more spectrum.” The panelists also urged Canada to reconsider set-asides in spectrum auctions. During the election campaign, the Liberals also promised to implement spectrum set-asides, but a party source wasn’t able to specify during the election whether that means the government would impose set-asides in every future auction. Innovation, Science and Industry -- as the department was renamed Wednesday-- is currently consulting on how that auction should be structured, including with regards to set-asides. “Avoiding any measures inflate prices, and as a few people have said, set asides are one of those things that can inflate prices and can mean my band is not as broad as it be,” Chapman said. Consultant at DotEcon Dan Maldoon said the government should “step back and think about the role of policy. I mean, you’re using a large amount of subsidy to sustain set-aside entry at the moment. You need to think more about what’s the right level of competition on a geographically differentiated basis.” He said that amount of government money could be better spent on other things. Nick Bone, strategy expert and game theorist for spectrum auctions at Vodafone Group Plc., said the government should be “promoting sufficient investment by sufficient infrastructure players, not deliberately trying to force in additional players who may not be sustainable.” Martin Cave, a professor at the law department of the London School of Economics, echoed some of the other panelists. “I think it’s the same. Get the stuff out as quickly as possible, and if the competitive price is very low, that’s a sign that you’ve succeeded,” he said.

Move quickly on spectrum for 5G, Canadian gov’t told

Brief | November 22, 2019

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Move quickly on spectrum for 5G, Canadian gov’t told

Brief | November 22, 2019

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