It might be helpful to examine how non-neutral policies will impact the delivery of a range of health services and why fair access to spectrum is critical to the effective delivery of health care today and in the future.
Applications will be enabled as 5G networks are deployed over the next few years. The 5G networks using wireless spectrum, including the 600 megahertz band, will ensure remote patient treatment, better data accuracy, greater patient empowerment, and better patient outcomes, most particularly in rural areas.
To put this in context, when we look ahead to what a world of 5G will offer, we break it into three unique use cases.
The first is called enhanced mobile broadband, which will empower things like home and remote health monitoring, remote imaging diagnostic applications, and virtual reality training for physicians. The second is massive machine-type communications, which will be a true enabler of e-health, the Internet of medical things, smart buildings, hospitals, and cities. The third and final contribution of 5G is what we call ultra-reliable and low-latency communications, which will empower remote surgery; autonomous vehicles, including ambulances; and vehicle-to-vehicle communications.
For Canadians, 5G will enable more equitable access to quality health care at affordable prices, especially in rural regions. This is why fair access to 600 megahertz and other spectrum is critical to harnessing and leveraging these innovative applications and technologies to make them available to the broadest number of Canadians, both urban and rural alike.
At Telus Health, we have 5G-ready initiatives that we can make available when sufficient spectrum resources are made available. For example, we have Telus Health Exchange, which is a national, standards-based, open electronic communication platform that connects Telus and third party systems to deliver an array of new tools to health providers and citizens.
With fair access to 600 megahertz spectrum, Telus Health could further enable virtual care applications, including mobile health applications that will bring positive impacts for patients in remote and rural communities and savings to Canada's health system.
These are just a few of the benefits that Canadians will be able to take advantage of, provided that sufficient amounts of spectrum are made available and that non-neutral spectrum allocation policies—