Liberals seeking telecom ‘balance’
The Liberals appear to be carrying on their predecessor’s push for more telecommunications competition in a bid to lower prices for consumers, but the government is careful to laud industry investments as it prepares to auction spectrum that will be critical to next-generation wireless networks.
The government is striving for “that fine balance again” of acknowledging industry investments while promoting competition when it unleashes the 600 MHz spectrum that it hopes will support 5G networks, Navdeep Bains, minister of innovation, science and economic development, said at the International Institute of Communications conference Thursday.
Unlike the Conservatives, whose fourth carrier policy promoted competitors to take on the Big Three, the Liberals haven’t outlined a telecom policy. In a brief interview, Bains said the Liberals consider telecom policy in the larger context of the digital and innovation strategies.
“There’s no longer the economy, it’s the digital economy, and the telecommunications sector will play a critical role in that,” Bains said.
Bains wouldn’t answer whether wireless challengers such as Videotron and Wind Mobile, now owned by Shaw, would get preferential treatment over incumbents such as Bell and Rogers in the competition for airwaves.
“Those kind of dynamics will be determined in the coming months, but clearly we want to see competition,” Bains told reporters after a keynote speech.
Nor would he comment on Bell’s proposed acquisition of Manitoba Telecom Services — the $3.9-billion deal that would reduce the number of carriers in Manitoba to three from four and that is muddling through the regulatory approval process.
But he pointed to Ottawa’s approval of the CRTC’s decision to open up wholesale access to incumbents’ fibre-to-the-home networks as the Liberals’ track record.
“We clearly have shown our commitment to more competition,” he said.
As for threats that network owners won’t invest in fibre-to-thehome connections if they have to provide wholesale access to the expensive service, Bains is confident there’s still a strong business case considering the skyrocketing demand for faster data and the impending deluge of devices connected to the Internet.
“I do believe that fibre-to-thehome is very essential for longterm success of the telecom sector,” he said.
The government invested $500 million in helping extend broadband to rural and remote communities as a signal it understands the digital divide and is willing to make investments to provide affordable, accessible Internet, Bains said.
As more people rely on the digital world and other countries pour money into network infrastructure, Canada needs to keep up investments so it can continue its success into the future, he said.