Canadian Government Executive - Volume 25 - Issue 03

18 / Canadian Government Executive // August/September 2019 DIGITAL 600 MHz auction: By Hunter Macdonald A rare opportuni ty for Canada’s rural communi t ies E arlier this year, the federal gov- ernment kicked off an auction for wireless spectrum, pitting a dozen regional and national operators against each other. At stake was the right to low-band 600 MHz spectrum, a valuable section of the airwaves that could confer a long-termcompetitive ad- vantage to the winners. The auction itself raised $3.47 billion, but the concern for this auction goes beyond profit and loss. The deployment of 600 MHz spectrum, which travels further and pen- etrates obstacles better than any other wire- less data frequency, will provide a unique opportunity to connect Canada’s hardest-to- reach communities. A look south of the bor- der demonstrates the potential advantages of 600MHz for covering rural areas – but also hints at how the government may be squan- dering an opportunity for major change. 600 MHz: a new frontier for coverage At their most basic, mobile networks function by sending signals over radio waves, much like FM radio or broadcast TV. If you’ve ever noticed that an FM ra- dio signal is much more consistent than your cellphone signal, you’ve discovered that low-band radio waves – those with a lower frequency – travel further and pass through objects much better than their higher-band counterparts. This is particularly important for mo- bile networks, because your cell service provider doesn’t just use one frequency. Canadian operators rely most heavily on mid-band and high-band spectrum, such as 1700 MHz and 2600 MHz, for the major- ity of their LTE networks. The lowest fre- quency currently in use is 700 MHz, and it has not been fully deployed across the country. The 600 MHz spectrum that the government is now auctioning off was previously used for broadcast television, and when deployed, will be the furthest- travelling cellular frequency in use. In practical terms, operators using 600 MHz will see a 25 per cent coverage im- provement compared to 700 MHz, and a 200-400% improvement compared to mid- band frequencies like 1800 MHZ. For cus- tomers in rural areas, the benefits are ob- vious: coverage and speeds will improve, meaning fewer dropped calls and usable mobile internet in more places. 600 MHz’s potential for rural coverage has already been proven to work in the wild. In 2017, US operator T-Mobile spent $8 billion USD on licenses for 600 MHz covering the whole country. In the two years since, hundreds of thousands of ru- ral Americans have reaped the rewards. T-Mobile has rolled out 600 MHz re- gion-by-region, depending on how quick- ly each state has been able to clear the airwaves previously used by TV stations. In Kansas and Missouri, some of the first states to receive 600 MHz coverage, aver- age download speeds and coverage are up by around 15 per cent compared to In- diana and Ohio, neighbouring states that are yet to see 600 MHz built out. When looking at just rural areas within