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Government Announces Plan To Open “White Spaces” Spectrum

Industry Minister Christian Paradis announced yesterday that the government is “opening up unused spectrum between TV channels – the so-called “white space” – for licence-exempt applications.” The government consulted on the issue last year. I wrote about white spaces in 2009.

4 Comments

  1. I, for one, welcome the development of high speed broadband for rural areas. The area where I live is fortunate to even have a 2Mbs service, some of my neighbors are out of luck though as it is line of site. I expect the new white-band services will not have that limitation.

    Digital access for everyone in Canada is not only important for our economy, but also for delivering basic information services in a increasingly connected digital world.

  2. To be really forward looking
    Opening up slivers of whitespace, and restricting their usage to avoid interfering with any incumbent users of that spectrum is a half-step that shows no leadership, and avoids the conflict indivisible from progress.

    Some spectrum isn’t used like it is appreciated. Is no one aware of the huge chunks still reserved for television or other inefficient and inferior uses?

    Just blow away these little fiefdoms. Let it be used for internet access, and let that common internet framework deliver radio, television, or other forms of communication. Tear down the artificial walls that exist to protect the greedy few against the populace to whom the spectrum belongs.

    If the new CRTC head really wants to make a difference, then the network operator / spectrum licensee aspect should be completely separated from service provider.

    The network operator will focus on providing coverage, speed, and cost per byte to maximize their revenues for the fixed cost of obtaining their spectrum.

    The network provider will worry about pricing plans to consumers/businesses, selling devices, handling billing and support. The network provider buys all data from the network operators in a completely transparent system.

    The network provider has necessarily high capital costs. Duplication is expensive and prevents a competitive market. Their equipment is a concern of national security, and privacy. The business plan is steady and the return on investment is all but guaranteed, like any important infrastructure.

    –It never took a genius to figure out the Trans-Canada highway would be used, decades before the demand arrived.

    The network operator has low start up costs, so many competitors can enter and scale without barriers. The terms of service and pricing should be competitive — allowing their clients to guide the market in what is made available (maybe people would rather have phone service handled through Skype + VOIP as opposed to the old touch tone service, maybe they just want to buy internet data for streaming music at the same price their voice data costs).

    –Why should a user be forced to buy everything through a monopoly infrastructure owner, we can drive anything we want on the Trans-Canada highway provided it meets some basic standards.

  3. CPC Election Fraud says:

    What a load of unrelated PMO Bullshit talking point propaganda at the beginning of Paradis’ announcement!
    “So I thought I’d use my time here today to outline our government’s perspective and the role we are playing—and more specifically, my role as Minister of Industry—in ensuring Canadians reap the benefits of the latest technologies.

    Our government begins from a single premise: A strong digital economy is fundamental to the future prosperity of Canadians. It’s that simple and it’s that important.

    From this comes a clear commitment: To do all that we can to create the conditions for your success.

    That begins with a strong, stable economy.

    As you know, the global economic recovery remains fragile. Five years into a world-wide downturn, there is still tremendous uncertainty, with ongoing challenges in Europe, the United States and elsewhere.

    Canada has not been immune, but we have come through the crisis better than most.

    Today, we have the best fiscal position in the G7. And, of the G7 countries, we’ve seen the strongest growth in employment during the recovery.

    In fact, since July 2009, employment has increased by almost 822,000 jobs. That means about 390,000 more jobs now than there were before the recession began.

    We have a solid triple—A credit rating. And for the fifth straight year, the World Economic Forum ranked Canadian banks the soundest in the world.

    We also have a plan to eliminate the deficit over the medium term.So I thought I’d use my time here today to outline our government’s perspective and the role we are playing—and more specifically, my role as Minister of Industry—in ensuring Canadians reap the benefits of the latest technologies.

    Our government begins from a single premise: A strong digital economy is fundamental to the future prosperity of Canadians. It’s that simple and it’s that important.

    From this comes a clear commitment: To do all that we can to create the conditions for your success.

    That begins with a strong, stable economy.

    As you know, the global economic recovery remains fragile. Five years into a world-wide downturn, there is still tremendous uncertainty, with ongoing challenges in Europe, the United States and elsewhere.

    Canada has not been immune, but we have come through the crisis better than most.

    Today, we have the best fiscal position in the G7. And, of the G7 countries, we’ve seen the strongest growth in employment during the recovery.

    In fact, since July 2009, employment has increased by almost 822,000 jobs. That means about 390,000 more jobs now than there were before the recession began.

    We have a solid triple—A credit rating. And for the fifth straight year, the World Economic Forum ranked Canadian banks the soundest in the world.

    We also have a plan to eliminate the deficit over the medium term.”

    ———————–

    Give me a break, this illegitimate Harper Election Fraud government disgusts me with their constant repetitive bullshit propaganda. It never ends and it’s disgusting beyond words.

  4. CPC Election Fraud says:

    I don’t know why that copy and paste repeated itself… how fitting, given the comment!
    What’s one more time, we’ve heard it all before a million times already!