Telecom Trends

Mark, your headline is bang-on! What's going on in the two cases reported in the Star's articles represents the height of NIMBY-ism. We want more capabilities on our cellphones and we want it to come through instantly, crystal clear and reliably but we don't want the infrastructure that's needed to achieve it located in or near our backyards. These are probably the same people that campaign for cleaning up the environment but don't want a waste-to-energy facility located anywhere near their homes.

This issue has similarities to the right-of-way issue in that you have the federal government's jurisdiction over telecom ultimately being able to override provincial and municipal ownerhip of land and/or land-use planning powers. I wonder if we're heading towards a potential Supreme Court ruling on this conflict between the powers given to federal government in the Telecom Act and the powers the provinces and municipalities have over land use (i.e. something similar to the Ledcor case).

What is most surprising is that there is practically nothing in the two articles about the new protocol concerning the location of radiocommunication and broadcasting antenna facilities that goes into effect next Tuesday - January 1, 2008. I guess the reporters were just too caught up in the emotions of the bleeding heart NIMBYers.

Back on June 22nd, Industry Canada's Spectrum Management and Telecommunications regime issued a Gazette Notice which announced the release of Issue 4 of Client Procedures Circular 2-0-03 entitled "Radiocommunication and Broadcasting Antenna Systems" and that that it would go into effect on January 1, 2008. The document set out new procedures that were intended to facilitate an open and transparent process with respect to antenna tower siting while ensuring the continued development of radiocommunication and broadcasting infrastructure. It replaced Issue 3 that had been in effect since June 1995.

Industry Canada took this action because it realized that the 1995 antenna tower siting process couldn't accomodate the expansion of wireless infrastructure, including antenna towers and other antenna-supporting structures resulting from the demand for more innovative wireless services.

In December 2004, the independent National Antenna Tower Policy Review proces that was started in October 2002, tabled recommendations that addressed the need to: develop clearer policy and process requirements; better define stakeholder roles; and participate more in public education and outreach opportunities.

The updated protocol that comes into effect on New Year's Day addresses many of those recommendations. Industry Canada claims it has heard the views of all those who participated in the Review's public consultation and has taken steps to balance the need for local involvement with the orderly development of radiocommunication in Canada.

We'll have to wait and see what side of the Harper government is going to prevail on this issue. Will it be the side that doesn't seem to give a damn about provincial and municipal concerns or will it be the side that is bending over backwards to appease the public and win votes which is the side that won out on the AWS auction.

I don't envy Mr. Prentice, the Minister of Industry. He's sitting on a lot of hot issues these days but this one, while it may not be the hottest, could prove to be the most irritable.