CRTC 2015-134 PRÉSENTATION

www.vaxination.ca/crtc

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Jean-François Mezei

8663-C12-201503186

Review of basic telecommunications services

Examen des services de télécommunication de base.

27 April 2016

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CRTC 2015-134

5/1 AND CANOES

• In the late 1800s, the small rural community of Fort Brisebois was only accessible by the 5/1 transport of the day: the canoe. There was no business case to build a railroad to it. The canoe got you there, but it took weeks and could only carry light cargo. Yet, the government saw the long term strategic value in funding the railroad. Today, Fort Brisebois is better known as Calgary.

• Imagine if the 2 incumbents of the day, La Compagnie des 100 Associés and Hudson’s Bay Corp had convinced the government that the canoes were more than enough ? Keeping the “served” status allows incumbenta to protect their territory from new entrants without having to invest.

• If incumbents have no interest, then they should be sidelined and a focus moved to those who have an interest: municipalities.

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ESSENTIAL TO ECONOMIC GROWTH

• Vint Cerf has said that over 90% of Internet applications have yet to be invented.

• The need is to empower all Canadians to create new applications, content and services, not just consume them.

• The Commission cannot define “basic” Internet based on a fixed set of existing applications. Deciding which applications are “need” vs “want” would constitute undue discrimination against apps declared “want”. It would also discriminate against apps that have not yet been invented.

• What is done with packets is none of the Commission’s business. It’s business is to ensure Canadians have access to a network that carries packets quickly and efficiently to support growth of the digital economy.

• Therefore, the need is to give all Canadians access to the Internet using the most modern technology applicable.

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NO-ONE LEFT BEHIND• Telephone

• Until an area is considered “served” for broadband, The obligation to serve for voice service should remain in place, including dialup, paper directories including the blue pages.

• As incentive to either invest in broadband or get out of the way, incumbents should be forced to keep voice prices stable without NCF help.. Once “served”, POTS can be forborne and incumbent can raise its prices.

• Broadband• Different programmes have funded deployment using different

geographical definitions (polygon, DSA, CO, wire centre) which has resulted in incomplete coverage, (eg: Ryan Adams’ complaint). No programme insisted in full coverage of a community, and grants given to technologies that can’t even meet 5/1.

• This must stop

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NBN.CA

• A single independent body (crown corporation ?) whose role is:

• Draw accurate and complete census of areas needing broadband deployments. Areas defined by municipal, first nations boundaries and special cases for unorganized territories.

• Census results would be available on-line to any Canadian to check the status of their town and complain if their home/town has not been identified.

• Combine funding from NCF, federal programme(s) and others such as EORN and coordinate with provinces to fund deployment of broadband based on bids for each project.

• Help each municipality to either find companies with expertise to build, or help the municipality bid to deploy its own municipal broadband network

• Coordinate backhaul availability with each municipal project.

• Coordinate/champion availability of spectrum for fixed wireless deployments where it is the best solution.

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NBN.CA 2

• Projects funded via Private Public Partnerships.

• NBN.CA in charge of quality assurance to ensure service is delivered as per standards.

• ISP may buy back NBN’s shares to become 100% owner. Proceeds help NBN fund new projects.

• Dividends flow back to NBN.CA (helps fund other projects)

• Winning bidders below certain size get 5 or 10 year guarantee from incumbent deployment. They can take this to bank to make loans easier to get.

• Incumbents may buy a municipal system before the end of the term.

• A deployed system that falls below standards during the term loses any protection from new entrant.

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BACKHAUL• Sufficient and affordable capacity in the backhaul helps solve many of the

underperforming services. Backhaul should include capacity needed for local government / school / library / town hall/ fire hall and nursing station.

• Statistics for urban ISPs should be used to dictate how much capacity is provided for rural deployments.

• Current numbers are around 1.2gbps per 1000 customers, (~833 customers per gbps of trunk capacity). Capacity predictions should not only include the CRTC 32% usage growth rate but also population growth of the town, planned for 10 year period.

• An incumbent who lost bid to deploy in a town will not be keen on offering its fibre at low price to a competitor. Incumbents can rig backhaul rates to price any competitor out of bids.

• Rate regulation may be needed for ethernet links between towns and the nearest point where competitive access to Internet transit and a peering point are available.

• Convincing provincial governments to open their rural fibre to commercial use would go a long way towards a solution.

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SATELLITE• Satellites will always be behind the capacity curve, always more expensive.

• Performance standards cannot match those of land base services.Higher upload should be encouraged (Exede has 12 / 3 on ViaSat 1).

• Although necessary,, satellites are to be seen as solution of last resort.

• Goal is to move as many people from satellite to wireline to free capacity for those who truly need satellite.

• Only a certain number of customers that can be served by satellite without undue restrictions. Geographical standards (community size, distance from road or fibre trunk etc) can be set to limit who has priority to access the satellite so the total number remains within the satellite’s limits.

• If , without gross oversubscription, satellite services are not economically viable, then the government could consider buying the service and running it at a loss.

• Government should consider subsidizing capacity on satellite to match that of CBB rates (for non DTH applications) so local ISPs can provide affordable services.

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• Unserved:

• RFP for full coverage of municipality.

• Partially served by one ISP. • Obligation to serve to force ISP to deploy to cover full community. Self-fund and raise

rates if necessary.

• Partially served by two or more ISPs • Force all ISPs to bid. Winning bidder must deploy using compliant standards to the

unserved homes. The costs are split amongst all bidders.

• In some very large municipalities, some outlying homes may require fixed wireless or satellite service from a 3rd party. Judgement will be needed.

LAST MILE SCENARIOS

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LAST MILE

• Technology/ies must be capable of serving everyone in municipality.

• Everyone must be able to get the speed standard (synch), No “up to” speeds. Higher and lower speeds can be offered.

• There needs to be a maximum oversubscription ratio (hard to set, but must be done) and operator must demonstrate its last mile technology can be upgraded over time to handle growth in usage and population. (node splits, more antennas, getting more spectrum etc).

• The total cost over 10 years must be considered in evaluating bids. A cheaper fixed wireless deployment that needs to be upgraded after 5 years may turn out to be more expensive than an immediate FTTP deployment

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• Major goal: ensure any government funded deployment uses future-proof technology.

• Stop paying to deploy technology that doesn’t even meet current standard and has no future.

• Aspirational speed : 100mbps download 100mbps upload.

• Incentive to choose future-proof technology today.

• Proposals whose technology can scale to reach the aspirational speed get advantage in bids compared to those whose technology will not reach such speeds.

LAST MILE SPEEDS

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LAST MILE SPEED TARGETS

• Funded deployments must meet “Served”, should meet 100/100.

• Unserved gets priority funding but a town that comes with project for “underserved” upgrade would be considered

• Allows existing ISPs to plan investments and technology so their territory remains “served”.

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Unserved Underserved Served

Now 5 / 1 8.1 / 1.1

Year A 5 / 1 8.1 / 1.1 24.1 / 3.6

Year B 8.1 / 1.1 24.1 / 3.6 50 / 10

Year C 24.1 / 3.6 50 / 10 60 / 30

Year D 50 / 10 60 / 30 100 / 100

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WIRING THE NORTH

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WIRING THE NORTH

• Every community moved to fibre reduces demand on scarce satellite capacity, making it easier for unconnected communities to get decent service.

• A build would take many years to achieve, considering short build season. So work must begin soon before satellite capacity is woefully insufficient.

• Whapmagoostui to Iqaluit is roughly 2000km @ $40,000/km = $80 million. Landings extra.

• Assert Canada’s sovereignty and serve the people of the north properly once and for all.

• Redundant connections:• Mackenzie Valley Fibre• Possible fibre to Churchill along tracks• Possible fibre to Moosonee along tracks• Eeyoo Communications Network• North tip of Newfoundland.

• Possibly part of the Quintillion Network plan to link Japan to Europe.

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AFFORDABILITY

• Commission needs to take the lead and begin by declaring that Access to Broadband is a basic service. Let social agencies define how much help is needed depending on location of person.

• Neither the Commission nor telcos or smaller operators have access to information to validate whether a person qualifies for financial help.

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DIGITAL LITERACY

• The Commission can team up with organizations such as MediaSmarts to produce videos and educational materials available to schools to provide digital literacy. Available on Youtube for anyone else.

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CONCLUSION

Primary goal is to get broadband to people’s homes with modern technology that lowers the cost of doing so,

If incumbents are not interested, then others must be empowered, including municipalities who have vested interest in

successful deployment. Incumbents must not be allowed to prevent this.

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