Internet providers still awaiting details of announced CRTC broadband fund, Tbaytel says

An internet service provider in Thunder Bay, Ont., says it soon expects to know more about a fund announced in late 2016 by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to help expand broadband into rural areas.

The pot of money was promised by the national regulator alongside a ruling that broadband internet is a basic telecommunications service and that providers have to start boosting service in rural and remote areas. Communications companies, including Tbaytel, will have to pay into the fund as well, they'll be permitted to draw from it.

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But while some details were announced in 2016, companies are still waiting for specifics like what kinds of projects will be eligible and how much money they'll have to contribute to the fund, said Katie Crowe, Tbaytel's manager of corporate brand communications.

"The announcement of this target by the CRTC was really a very initial first step," Crowe said. "Now looking at how providers actually need to pay into this fund in order to then turn around and access it for the providers that are in more rural or underserved areas of Canada."

"So it's quite a long process, we don't expect to hear the findings of the exploration that the CRTC did last year until probably sometime this spring."

A spokesperson with the national regulator confirmed that consultation with stakeholders including internet service providers, consumer groups and multiple levels of government wrapped up in December 2017 and that it expects to release information about the funding program "as soon as possible in 2018."

Tbaytel took part in those consultations, Crowe said, adding that it was a process that allowed the local company to be "fairly confident" that the fund will ultimately help with the work Tbaytel will have to do.

In December 2016, the CRTC set targets for internet service providers to offer customers in all parts of the country download speeds of at least 50 megabits per second (Mbps) and upload speeds of at least 10 Mbps. The goal is to reduce from 18 per cent to 10 per cent, the number of homes in Canada that don't have access to those speeds or data by 2021, then down to zero over the subsequent 10 to 15 years.

The fund is expected to grow to $750 million over five years and is intended to help offset some of the cost for internetservice providers to do the necessary upgrades.

"Once the eligibility criteria are set by the CRTC, providers can then start accessing the money but we don't know when that's going to start," Crowe said.

With time marching on toward the 2021 target date for some of the work to be completed, Crowe said the company is looking for some answers soon as project applications can take time.

Tbaytel has also applied to other pots of money for broadband upgrades previously offered by the federal and provincial governments, Crowe said; the 2018 federal budget commitment of $100 million over the next five years for broadband isn't expected to help the company, she added, as that is money earmarked for expanding rural broadband through the use of low-orbit satellites.

That's not a technology that Tbaytel expects to use anytime soon, Crowe said.