Red tape slowing spread of high-speed wireless, says 6harmonics
6harmonics has support from Google, Microsoft, but is still waiting for Industry Canada green light
A trio of former Nortel patent holders say they've come up an innovative way to bring high-speed wireless internet to rural Ontario, but that they can't get Canadian regulators to pay attention.
6harmonics Inc. is an Ottawa-based company that's developed technology to use "white space," the unused part of the television broadcast spectrum, to provide wireless internet access.
'Ideal for rural broadband'
"It's really good spectrum because it's at a very low frequency. The radio waves propagate far. It's ideal for rural broadband," said Steve Beaudin, vice-president of radio solutions at 6harmonics.
6harmonics ran a test pilot last summer in Maniwaki, Que., and is now experimenting with the technology in Carleton Place, Ont., where some people still don't have high-speed access, Beaudin said.
But according to 6harmonics CEO Robert Wu, they won't get past the pilot stage without regulatory changes from Industry Canada.
Still waiting for go-ahead
6harmonics's two biggest customers are Microsoft and Google, the companies that have helped get their technology into other countries, but it's "still waiting for the green light" to bring the technology to Canada, Wu said.
"Our government has a rural broadband stimulus program set up already," Wu said. "I think we just need government to accelerate the ratification process."
In April, the federal government unveiled its Digital Canada 150 strategy, which included a pledge to connect 98 per cent of Canadians to internet service fast enough for high-speed resolution video.
Industry minster James Moore pledged at the time that about $305 million would go towards enhancing high-speed internet services for some 280,000 rural and remote communities by 2017.