Bill S-242

An Act to amend the Radiocommunication Act

Status

Defeated, as of Nov. 8, 2023

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Summary

This is from the published bill. The Library of Parliament has also written a full legislative summary of the bill.

This enactment amends the Radiocommunication Act to require spectrum licence holders
(a) to deploy the spectrum to at least 50% of the population within the geographic area covered by the spectrum licence; and
(b) in respect of the utilization of radio frequencies within a Tier 1 to 4 service area as described in Canada Gazette notice DGSO-006-19, Decision on a New Set of Service Areas for Spectrum Licensing , published on July 23, 2019, to deploy the spectrum to provide service to at least 50% of the population within any Tier 5 service areas located within the geographic area covered by the spectrum licence.

Elsewhere

All sorts of information on this bill is available at LEGISinfo, an excellent resource from the Library of Parliament. You can also read the full text of the bill.

Bill numbers are reused for different bills each new session. Perhaps you were looking for one of these other S-242s:

S-242 (2017) An Act to amend the Competition Act (misrepresentations to public)

S-242 (2009) An Act to amend the Canadian Payments Act (debit card payment systems)

S-242 (2008) An Act to amend the Telecommunications Act (telecommunications consumer agency)

Votes

Nov. 8, 2023 Failed 2nd reading of Bill S-242, An Act to amend the Radiocommunication Act

Radiocommunication ActRoutine Proceedings

May 11th, 2023 / 10 a.m.

Conservative

Ryan Williams Conservative Bay of Quinte, ON

moved that Bill S-242, An Act to amend the Radiocommunication Act, be read the first time.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Senator Patterson for all his hard work in getting this bill passed through the other place, the Senate. I am looking forward to getting it passed through this chamber.

Canadians currently pay the highest cellphone rates in the world and some of the highest Internet rates. As it currently stands, with spectrum auctions, companies pay by spectrum for a “20 years with no conditions” policy. They actually have to use that spectrum to provide service. Many companies buy the spectrum with no current plans or intentions of using it. We have seen this across Canada multiple times, where a spectrum is held for real estate purposes and sold for millions of dollars.

Canadians, especially in rural and remote areas, suffer from poor or non-existent cellphone services because of spectrum speculation. The bill would correct this by introducing a “use it or lose it” provision to all wireless sold at auction. It would require the licence holder to provide service to at least 50% of the geographic area covered by the licence within three years of that licence being issued or lose the licence.

This is a great bill, and I am happy to sponsor it. I want to thank the member for Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa for seconding it.

(Motion agreed to and bill read the first time)