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July 5, 2010

Wireless carriers operating in Canada now have to follow very strict rules if they wish to slow mobile data traffic to better manage heavy loads at times, the CRTC (Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission) has ruled late last week.

The CRTC says it will now start regulating wireless data services by making mobile service operators subject to the non-discrimination provisions of the Telecommunications Act.

The Canadian federal regulatory commission added that wireless carriers will also have to obey the traffic management rules the commission set out in 2009 for wireline carriers as well.

So far, most wireless carriers in Canada have kept away from their written submissions to the commission on wireless regulatory forbearance, and it's fairly easy to understand why.

The Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA), which counts most wireless carriers in Canada as its members, immediatly endorsed the CRTC's decision.

But while Telus agreed the decision was expected, the phone and wireless carrier still took a jab at the regulatory agency.

Jim Johannsson, the Vancouver-based carrier’s director of media relations said Telus isn’t concerned about the imposition of wireless data traffic management rules since it simply doesn’t interfere with traffic on its networks, he said in an email interview.

The data traffic management rules specify that traffic "throttling" is permitted to deal with some network congestion. But wireless carriers can’t block content without firm CRTC approval, and it would only be given in “exceptional circumstances.”

Additionally, any slowing of time-sensitive traffic such as live video feeds or voice also needs approval. But no approval is needed for slowing non-time sensitive traffic (such as music or video downloads) unless slowing affects the content.

“But we are greatly concerned about regulatory rules that are put in place in the absence of a specific issue to solve. We aren’t aware there’s a problem with throttling of wireless data networks. So to have the CRTC impose a rule to solve something that isn’t a problem at this time is something we’re not happy about,” added Johannsson.

Wireless data traffic management policies also have to be explained to the public on carriers’ Web sites, the CRTC ruled.

The commission has stayed away from regulating wireless for over ten years, much to the approval of phone and cable companies who are also wireless carriers, because in recent years wireless has turned into a lucrative service.

But in 2009, the CRTC said it would take another look at wireless forbearance given the changes in technology at a hearing on basic phone services that starts in October in Toronto.

To head that off the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association, which speaks for most carriers, lobbied hard for a separate hearing on the wireless issue.

The association quickly announced that the industry agreed the non-discrimination sections of the Telecommunications Act should apply to wireless services, as it does to wireline services. The commission agreed to deal with wireless by itself.

Overall, CRTC Rule No. S.27 says no Canadian can "unjustly discriminate or give an undue or unreasonable preference toward any person, including itself, or subject any person to an undue or unreasonable disadvantage."

The association was deliberately silent, however, on whether traffic management rules should be added to wireless regulation as a whole.

If all of this sounds a bit like the FCC, it's because it is, especially as the red tape is concerned.

But there were a few voices in support, however. Barrett Xplore Inc., a Woodstock, N.B.,-based provider of wireless Internet to rural communities, told the CRTC wireline traffic management rules should be added to wireless, as did one ISP and several public interest groups.

In making its decision, the CRTC said giving itself the authority to apply the S.27 rule of the Telecommunications Act to wireless data services would allow it to deal with allegations of discrimination by both wireless and wireline carriers.

However, Keith McIntosh, the association’s director of regulatory affairs said in an interview that the association didn’t respond to those claims.

The commission signaled in its original traffic management decision that in all likelihood, the rules would be applied to wireless, he said.

That’s also why the traffic management rules have been extended to wireless as well, it said.

It's still unclear to some in the Canadian wireless industry how this will affect mobile communications in the country and especially in major cities such as Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.

Some think this could have a devastating effect in the growth of mobile services in Canada. Others disagree.

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Source: The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission.