Canada leads wireless way

Re: “How much protection does telecom really need” July25

The article about the rules around foreign investment in Canada’s telecommunications sector neglected to include important context around the capabilities of Canada’s wireless networks, which receive only a passing reference in the piece.

There is no debate regarding the high quality of the networks built by Canada’s facilities-based carriers. Opensignal’s “State of LTE” report released earlier this year noted that Canada is a “4G superpower,” with Canadian subscribers enjoying the fastest average mobile download connection speed in the G7 — including twice the average speed in the United States.

The CRTC’S 2017 Communications Monitoring Report shows that high-speed 4G LTE networks are available to 99 per cent of Canadians, while Lte-advanced (LTE-A) networks offering even faster data speeds are now available to 83 per cent of the national population.

Canadians enjoy access to these networks because our facilities-based carriers have invested approximately $50 billion to build them in a country that presents formidable challenges of geography and varying population density.

OECD figures show this investment is the fourth highest among member nations and highest in the G7 as a percentage of revenue.

A recent study by Nordicity found Canadian facilities-based carriers employed over 138,000 Canadians and contribute at least $25.2 billion in GDP to our economy. Thanks to this strong foundation, Canada is well-positioned for the arrival of 5G, the next evolution in mobile wireless.

A report commissioned by the CWTA from Accenture Strategy shows that 5G investments could add $40 billion to Canada’s GDP and would create 250,000 more permanent jobs by 2026 while fuelling innovation that will continue to improve Canadians’ quality of life.

The performance of our networks and the investments that have built and continue to sustain them are tremendous achievements and integral to the success of Canada’s innovation agenda.