ISED triples spectrum available for Wi-Fi

The federal government is making more spectrum available to increase competition, rural connectivity and the effective deployment of Wi-Fi and 5G technologies. On Wednesday, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry François-Philippe Champagne, announced his department’s decision to open the 6 GHz band with the goal of increasing both affordability and choice in respect to wireless broadband for consumers. “More spectrum available for Wi-Fi means Canadians will benefit from increased speed and connectivity for working from home, participating in online education and accessing health care services remotely," the department’s said in a release. "This decision also allows for more affordable deployment of broadband technology in rural areas and increased access to the spectrum for Canadian businesses and innovators looking to use it.” Access to this 6 GHz spectrum will increase user capacity and higher speeds in gigabits per second for wireless devices connected to Wi-Fi routers and allows for an additional 1200 MHz of licence-exempt spectrum, which will triple the spectrum available for Wi-Fi. ISED’s proposal to open up the 6 GHz band received broad support, with every telecommunications company that responded to its consultation in March supporting it to some degree on the basis that it would facilitate the rollout of high-speed broadband across Canada. A submission from Shaw Communications Inc. said the existing 2.4 and 5 GHz unlicensed bands are becoming congested, and that “there have been no significant releases of unlicensed spectrum in Canada for over 15 years.” The responding companies -- which included BCE Inc., Rogers Communications Inc., Telus Corp., Quebecor Inc., Cogeco Inc., Teksavvy Solutions Inc. Apple Inc., Facebook Inc., Microsoft Corp., Alphabet Inc.’s, and others -- were, however, divided on the question of whether the entire 1200 MHz of the band or just a segment of it should be opened up for license-exempt use. Next month, the 3500 MHz wireless spectrum auction kicks off after ISED denied requests from the Competitive Network Operators of Canada (CNOC) and its member company Distributel Communications Ltd. to further delay it as they argued the timelines for the auction were made public in June 2020, and that “many applicants have now invested significant effort to apply despite the potential uncertainty surrounding the CRTC’s MVNO decision."

ISED triples spectrum available for Wi-Fi

Brief | May 19, 2021

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ISED triples spectrum available for Wi-Fi

Brief | May 19, 2021

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