Evidence of meeting #11 for Industry, Science and Technology in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was businesses.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:40 p.m.
Conservative
Lee Richardson Conservative Calgary Centre, AB
And you're saying that if you eliminate those servers that now have that spectrum or would get that spectrum—unless you limit them, unless the government—
4:40 p.m.
Conservative
Lee Richardson Conservative Calgary Centre, AB
—excludes them.... You're looking for a set-aside so that you don't have to bid against the big guys. Is that what you're doing?
4:40 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Xplornet
There are two things. What we're looking for is not having to buy urban Toronto to get the not insignificant rural population around Toronto. That applies to Calgary as well. There are 44 licences where we're asking government, that is, Industry Canada, to partition—
4:40 p.m.
Conservative
Lee Richardson Conservative Calgary Centre, AB
I understand that from your perspective, as the totally self-serving perspective of your company. But how does that affect the consumer in Calgary? If the server gets the high-density part of the city, do they not have the same ability to provide the service you do? Are you just saying they won't do it?
4:40 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Xplornet
Other providers like Xplornet would have the same challenge. You need spectrum to deliver it.
4:40 p.m.
Conservative
Lee Richardson Conservative Calgary Centre, AB
I'm not talking about that; I'm talking about people that have it now. You're just saying that they won't provide the service in the rural areas? Is that what you're saying? You will, and they won't?
4:45 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Xplornet
No. I'm saying that if you're a wireless provider looking to serve those rural areas around Calgary, you can't execute a quality service without spectrum.
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
Lee Richardson Conservative Calgary Centre, AB
I understand that, but whoever gets the spectrum is going to serve those areas.
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
Lee Richardson Conservative Calgary Centre, AB
So why do you have to be given a break to get the spectrum?
4:45 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Xplornet
I'm talking about rural providers as a category, not just Xplornet. What I'm saying is that there is a lot of spectrum out there. I'm not saying that you should take all of it and partition it. I'm saying, take some portion of it. We understand that the mobile folks need spectrum.
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
Lee Richardson Conservative Calgary Centre, AB
That's obvious and reasonable. What I'm saying is, why would you have to do that? Couldn't the people who already have that spectrum, or who will get that spectrum, if they get the high-density area, do the same thing as you would do? What is the advantage to the consumer of giving you a break on cutting out this rural spectrum so that you bid on it more cheaply than the guys who have the urban area?
4:45 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Xplornet
Well, the guys who have the urban area aren't using it. I'm not sure where to go with the question. There are people who have spectrum—
4:45 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Xplornet
There are people who have spectrum. They're not executing in the market.
4:45 p.m.
A voice
They're not doing it.
4:45 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Xplornet
I want to execute in the rural area. I can't get spectrum on a cost-effective basis. I don't want it free. I bought spectrum in private purchases, but what I need to do is buy the 10% that is rural and not pay for the 100% that includes the urban centre.
4:45 p.m.
Chief Executive Officer, Xplornet
So what's the alternative? The alternative is that we can keep talking about subsidies, because without a reasonable way to access spectrum to providers right across this country--
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative David Sweet
Gentlemen, that's all the time we have.
That's all the time we have, Mr. Maduri, and Mr. Richardson. You'll have to explore that again.
Now on to Mr. Harris for five minutes....
4:45 p.m.
NDP
Dan Harris NDP Scarborough Southwest, ON
I'm not going to ask the question again, but I think the answer there, Mr. Maduri, lies in your earlier comment that if you have to buy up all of that spectrum, you then would inventory the urban section, whereas currently the people who are operating and having those are inventorying the rural section, because it's not a priority as the margins are much smaller there and that's not their business focus.
4:45 p.m.
NDP
Dan Harris NDP Scarborough Southwest, ON
Their focus is making the money in the urban centres, which is why rural Canada has sub-par service, period. End of story on that one.
Any way, I can answer half of the questions that get asked. It's an interesting place to be.
In following up on Ms. Gallant's comments about the issues with smaller, lesser known businesses operating online—and, of course, the concerns of digital literacy are definitely right up there—Mr. Glick talked very briefly about site certificates. Very few people know that site certificates can also be self-issued, for instance, and therefore carry no real security in that case. I think she asking about the safeguards that would be in place with, say, Google Wallet, and businesses that use it. They don't have bricks and mortars, so what safeguards would be in place to ensure that fraudulent actions can't take place through Google Wallet?