There were 5G announcements in 2016 in Canada but few details in terms of concrete plans from mobile carriers. Of note are technology trials completed by Bell and Nokia, conducted using 73 GHz spectrum, as well as TELUS and Huawei in Vancouver, where speeds of up to 29.3 Gbps were achieved as part of [...]
The CRTC issued Telecom Notice of Consultation CRTC 2017-112 on April 25, 2017 to “examine matters related to the establishment of the broadband funding regime”. The CRTC is looking for inputs regarding both the governance, evaluation criteria and functioning of this new regime as well as which organizations would be eligible to [...]
The FCC's 600 MHz auction ended March 28, 2017 with details released shortly thereafter... Licenses were sold at a “no-regrets” price of US$0.92 per MHz-pop – more than 60% “off” compared to AWS-3 and 35% less than 700 MHz licenses. And the winners were... some of the usual suspects, but bucking US auction history, AT&T [...]
2017 will be a busy year in Canada as ISED should launch a new consultation on the upcoming 600 MHz spectrum in anticipation of the closing of the FCC's Incentive Auction. Critical questions will need to be properly addressed including compensation for broadcasters vacating this band. Some countries in Asia-Pacific are also looking at [...]
The Canadian government, CRTC as well as the Quebec government harmonized their objectives for broadband in Canada in late 2016 and started to work "hand in hand" so to speak to continue to bridge the digital divide across the country. These programs, namely the CRTC’s new broadband fund as well as the [...]
Last November, LYA published the results of an online survey indicating that close to 70% of English Canadian respondents were subscribers to Netflix at that time. The survey also highlighted the negative feedback that could be expected for both Netflix and BDUs if a Cancon tax of the order of $1.50 monthly was added [...]
Recent Evolution of Average Auction Spectrum Prices in the US At the end of the clock phase for the US 600 MHz Incentive Auction Nearing the end of the US 600 MHz Incentive Auction The US 600 MHz Incentive Auction will end March 30 after the assignment phase, having cleared 70 MHz, [...]
À la fin 2016, le gouvernement canadien, le CRTC ainsi que le gouvernement du Québec ont harmonisé leurs objectifs pour l’accès à l’Internet à large bande et ont commencé à travailler main dans la main pour aider à surmonter la fracture numérique à travers le pays. Les détails des nouveaux programmes de subvention pour l’Internet [...]
The Canadian government, CRTC as well as the Quebec government harmonized their objectives for broadband in Canada in late 2016 and started to work "hand in hand" so to speak to continue to bridge the digital divide across the country. Details for new broadband subsidy programs were released at the same time as CRTC issued [...]
Imposing a Canadian content tax on Netflix is a hotly debated issue. Many have proposed to add a Canadian content tax on Netflix service, that would play a similar role to the 5% of revenues that Canadian broadcast distribution undertakings (BDUs) contribute to the production of Canadian content. But the industry is evolving rapidly as [...]