Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members.
Telesat appreciates the opportunity to appear before the committee to review the telecom policy review report and its recommendations as they pertain to satellite operators in Canada, and Telesat in particular. Dan Goldberg, our president and CEO, was hoping to be here today, but unfortunately he is unable to attend.
Telesat has invested nearly $3 billion since its inception and has delivered state-of-the-art satellite services to millions of Canadians without regard to where they may live in this vast country. The satellite service markets are inherently international, due to the coverage capability of satellites, and Industry Canada has licensed over 70 foreign satellites to serve Canada.
Telesat's competition therefore not only comes from other telecommunications carriers in Canada but also from the largest satellite operators in the world. As a result, there is a compelling need to update the regulatory framework to ensure that Canadian-licensed satellite operators are not at a competitive disadvantage relative to their much larger international competitors.
The Telecommunications Policy Review Panel recognizes the forces of competition at play today in Canadian telecommunications, and urges fundamental change to the current regulatory framework to rely more heavily on market forces and less on regulation to ensure that the public receives high-quality innovative services at competitive rates.
Telesat fully supports such an approach in the satellite sector. The current regulatory regime is in fact dual regulation, where both the CRTC and Industry Canada have added increasing layers of regulatory requirements involving fees, licence conditions, public policy objectives, industrial benefits, and ongoing regulatory reporting and filings. As our foreign competitors are not subject to such burdensome and costly regulatory requirements by their national regulators, Telesat is placed at a significant competitive disadvantage, compounding the disadvantages that already flow from our sub-scale position in the international market.
Of particular importance to Telesat is the approach followed by regulators when assigning new orbital locations in spectrum. Regulators in the United States, Europe, and many other countries around the world apply a licensing approach that favours spectrum aggregation by a single operator at a given orbital location. This licensing approach encourages a satellite operator to aggregate multiple frequency bands at a given orbital location so as to enable the operator to leverage the benefits of larger satellites.
In short, Telesat requires a similar opportunity to structure its business going forward, based on a regulatory framework that is consistent and harmonized with those of other jurisdictions and that allows us, our customers, and the Canadian public to capture the substantial public policy benefits that flow from a policy that favours spectrum aggregation.
Thank you.