ISED issues AWS renewal consultation, PSBN decision

Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) has launched a consultation on the renewal process for AWS and other spectrum licences it auctioned off in 2008. It said in a notice Thursday that the licences, which were for a 10-year term, will expire over two years, between December 2018 and March 2020. It noted “licensees will have a high expectation of renewal unless a breach of licence condition has occurred,” because it’s not planning “any fundamental reallocation of this spectrum, nor does it see any overriding policy need that would preclude renewal of these licences.” ISED also proposed a 20-year term for the AWS and G Block licences, because those blocks are “well established, and are unlikely to have any usage changes in the foreseeable future.” Because the I Block is significantly less developed, ISED suggested a licence term of 10 years. It also asked for comment on increasing deployment requirements and other licence conditions. Comments are due July 25. In a separate notice, ISED designated spectrum in the 758-763 MHz and 788-793 MHz bands for public safety broadband use. Those 10MHz of spectrum are in addition to the 10MHz of 700 MHz spectrum it dedicated for the purpose in 2012. It said it decided not to auction off public safety broadband spectrum and instead issue spectrum directly to one or more public safety network entities. “The public safety community has noted that interoperability is important to ensure coordinated and timely responses to incidents and emergencies and argued that the 700 MHz public safety broadband spectrum should be assigned rather than auctioned,” the decision noted. “In light of these comments, ISED considers that an auction would not be the most practical and timely approach to making spectrum available for a public safety broadband use.” ISED also decided that it wouldn’t mandate any specific technology, such as LTE, be used on the spectrum, and that commercial use “of unused capacity will be allowed provided that public safety users will have priority and pre‑emptive rights over any form of commercial usage.” It said it would launch additional consultations to consider issues like eligibility criteria, licence conditions, and licence fees. Last month, the government promised $3 million to produce an analysis on a potential public safety broadband network.

ISED issues AWS renewal consultation, PSBN decision

Brief | June 16, 2017

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ISED issues AWS renewal consultation, PSBN decision

Brief | June 16, 2017

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