Welcome to Issue #2 (Jan 19, 2024)

Thank you to the 300+ of you who hit the checkmark and subscribed to this newsletter! Now, I have some sense of responsibility to provide you with interesting content and opinions to keep you coming back for more.

Big news - I've created my first custom ChatGPT! (quite the load off of your minds, I'm sure). It's not public and is available to those with the link. Read about it below.

Hope you learn something new!

With that, here we go with Issue #2! Read on.

Broadband in Canada

What defines "Rural and Remote"?

Excellent question, but who cares? Sometimes, you just need to know things because they end up being necessary when dealing with some other policy or regulatory issues.

I'm discussing Non-Competitive Local Licensing ("NCL") a little later on (you should care, really.. there's an opportunity out there...), with the aspects of the framework and licensing based on the area being served - metropolitan, rural or remote.

Naturally, I wanted/needed to understand more about the definition of "rural and remote," so off I went to the Spectrum Policy Branch at ISED with the question.

They sent me a link to a highly interactive site that outlines all Service Areas for Competitive Licensing. Click on the "Tier 5" tab to see all the "Rural/Remote" communities in Canada, complete with population data. Of course, it's searchable in other ways as well.

It's a great reference tool.

My Internet is bigger than Your Internet

Here's who ranks as the fastest internet provider in Canada.

Starlink wasn't even in the ranking last year. Bell seems to be the winner, according to OOKLA. Notice the median speeds..

Interesting, though, as you read through the article - although Bell has the faster download speeds for Mobile (non-5G), Rogers is 22% faster on the upstream. Rogers also wins on service consistency over both Bell and Telus.

There's no comparison on "value", however. Even though Bell is 'faster', my 'bits/second' may be cheaper from Rogers or Telus. It's a challenge to even determine a common metric as service charges vary dramatically across granular residential and MDU service areas, with many under promotional contracts.

Either way, ~300Mbps seems to be an anecdotal median 'speed' consistent with industry musings around subscriber usage vs. subscribed tier.

Finally, in other news, Rogers Communications receives more complaints than other Canadian telecoms for first time in 15 years, so there's that.. "BCE Inc.’s Bell Canada, which received the most complaints in every previous year, saw a 7 percent year-over-year increase. In total, Bell accounted for 16 percent of the complaints accepted by the CCTS."

Technology

NaaS - Network as a Service. A market that is predicted to see an incredible amount of growth over the coming years as companies realize the benefit of focusing on their core business and move to outsource the network, or parts of the network, to a partner who can build, monitor, and manage critical infrastructure with SLAs in place both physical and cloud-based component uptime.

One of the opportunities to leverage "NaaS" in the US and elsewhere is for Private Wireless (LTE/5G). Applications that require highly controlled, secure, dedicated/private, reliable and predictable (possibly mobile) communication services are great candidates for Private Wireless networks. Think remote or "uncarpeted" industrial sites - mining, agriculture, shipyards, outdoor warehouse areas, oil refineries, and so on.

Even where existing carrier services may be present, private wireless services offer an additional level of control and reliability for mission-critical applications.

Forecasts from International Data Corporation (IDC) suggest worldwide revenue for private LTE/5G infrastructure could reach $5.2B in 2027.

Back in 2020, for Private LTE/5G, the FCC in the US allocated and defined a block of shared wireless spectrum called CBRS - "Citizen's Band Radio Service". This isn't the "CB radio" you think of when you remember the 1975 song, "Convoy" (how many of you did I just lose?). CBRS is 150Mhz of spectrum reserved in the 3.5GHz band in the US, specifically reserved for Private LTE or Private 5G type of applications. It's licensed and controlled by the FCC, managed by a Spectrum Access System (SAS), with multiple license tiers, etc. Any entity can secure a license.

So what about in Canada? No such thing, yet. Today Private Cellular Networks have to be deployed in conjunction with one of the carriers who owns and operates spectrum. There are a number of examples of carrier-lead private 5G networks in Canada.

The plan for Canada is to use Non-Competitive Licensed ("NCL") bands. For private wireless services, in consultation with industry, ISED designated "80?MHz of spectrum in 8 unpaired 10 MHz blocks for shared use in the 3900-3980?MHz band". Licensing will be "FCFS", or first come, first served and will be licensed annually with a fee structure based on whether the service area is considered to be metropolitan, rural or remote (see my discussion above about the definition of Rural/Remote)

As I understand it, the application intake process will commence with existing WBS (Wireless Broadband Service) license holders applying in "early 2024", before being made available for others to acquire licenses sometime in 2025.

Lots of opportunities associated with this spectrum.

For more information, see the "AI" section below to learn more about my "Spectrum Canada Guide" experiment.

Space

It seems this week's Space theme is 'Situational Awareness Conjunctions'; "crashes" for those who don't speak "Space". Nanu, Nanu.

Starlink close encounters decrease despite ever-growing number of satellites

"Even though the Starlink constellation has grown by about 1,000 spacecraft in the last six months, its satellites made fewer avoidance maneuvers in that period than in the prior half year.

Twice a year, SpaceX reports to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) how many times its satellites had to change their paths to avoid possible collisions with other spacecraft and space debris. The rocket company submitted its latest "Semi- annual constellation status report" on Dec. 29, 2023, covering a period between June 1, 2023, and Nov. 30, 2023.?

In that period, Starlink satellites had to perform 24,410 collision avoidance maneuvers, equivalent to six maneuvers per spacecraft. In the previous reporting period that accounted for the six months leading up to May 31, 2023, the constellation's satellites had to move 25,299 times."

Full article --https://www.space.com/spacex-starlink-collision-avoidance-maneuver-growth-stalls

How many satellites can we safely fit in Earth orbit?

(It only makes sense to follow an article about "close encounters" with one about crowding..)

"Lewis stated that "the overall number of conjunctions predicted for 2022 was 134% higher than the number for 2020 and 58% higher than 2021, exceeding 4 million."

"Five or 10 years from now, we'll have somewhere between 20,000 and 100,000 satellites, and I am very skeptical that at the upper number of 100,000 things can be operated safely," McDowell said."

"The precedent of more tightly controlled access to space already exists, McDowell added. Slots in geostationary orbit, the sought-after altitude around 22,000 miles (36,000 km) above Earth where satellites appear suspended above a fixed spot on the planet with a stable view of a large portion of the globe, are allocated by the International Telecommunications Union on first-come, first-served basis. In lower orbits, however, licenses are awarded by national bodies that have no obligation to coordinate with each other."

Full article - https://www.n2yo.com/satellite-article/How-many-satellites-can-we-safely-fit-in-Earth-orbit/86

Cool Companies

RABBIT

There was a fair amount of activity coming out of CES about Rabbit. I saw them show up in a number of articles and posts.

The Large Action Model is the cornerstone of rabbit OS. LAM is a new type of foundation model that understands human intentions on computers. With LAM, rabbit OS understands what you say and gets things done.

In a nutshell, you don't pick an app to do something; you use their pocket companion and tell it what you want to do. Rabbit takes care of everything else. It's all intent-based and trained on what they've called Large Action Models.

Watch the keynote - linked below. It's very interesting.

https://www.rabbit.tech/keynote

RAMEN

Ramen offers a new paradigm: Managed wireless networks delivered as a service that can be used to provide extremely reliable, high speed and secure wireless networks in environments where blue collar workers, robots and IoT devices are performing mission critical tasks in rugged work areas. The Ramen solution operates using unlicensed spectrum – initially using the CBRS and WiFi frequency bands in the US. Private 5G offers significant benefits over the legacy carrier-centric approach where enterprises have no control over their destiny and wait for years for the carrier to deploy nationwide. It also brings all the benefits of modern cloud/edge computing to the non-carpeted enterprise putting it on the same footing as the carpeted enterprise.

https://www.rameninc.com/

Personal Development

AI

My first (linked) custom ChatGPT

Complete with a cool DALL-E generated logo, "Spectrum Guide Canada" is being trained with data about Spectrum Management in Canada.

Within this issue, I'll be chatting about NCLs (Non-Competitive Local Licensing), inspired by one of the Cool Companies I'm also chatting about. Go and ask my ChatGPT what an NCL is. Ask it what spectrum will be used for unlicensed applications. Ask it how much NCLs cost.

I'm also working on one that focuses on Broadband Funding in Canada - National, Provincial and Municipal - but it's proving a little more challenging to deliver proper results. May be a prompting problem, but we'll see as it comes together.

Either way, I've found this an interesting exercise to synthesize data and provide concise replies without reading hundreds of pages to find and summarize specific data.

Click on the picture below to check it out (you'll need a ChatGPT Plus account, for now, to access it). Let me know what you think!

Who am I Following?

Nat Choprasert - AI Automation Education

She has a great newsletter called "Future AI Lab"

Podcasts I'm listening to

BetaKit

"The BetaKit Podcast Channel features weekly podcasts discussing both Canadian tech and innovation, as well as global tech from a Canadian perspective"

https://betakit.com/category/podcasts/

Law Bytes

"In recent years the intersection between law, technology, and policy has exploded as digital policy has become a mainstream concern in Canada and around the world. This podcast explores digital policies in conversations with people studying the legal and policy challenges, set the rules, or are experts in the field. It provides a Canadian perspective, but since the internet is global, examining international developments and Canada’s role in shaping global digital policy is be an important part of the story."

https://law-bytes.castos.com/

Events - Pay Attention! ;)

The Canadian Rural and Remote Broadband Community Conference - Sponsorship opportunities are now available!

The CRRBC conference series continues into 2024 with two announced dates and locations. Mark your calendars and register early!

"Beyond Connectivity: Building Prosperity in Rural Communities".

"Let's shape the future together through engaging discussions on community economic development, workforce development, regulatory policies and the latest in technologies. Explore the limitless possibilities of broadband access in rural and Indigenous communities—from boosting tourism and advancing remote healthcare to fostering digital literacy, exploring data sovereignty, and laying the groundwork for Smart Communities. Your presence can make a difference! Mark your calendar now for a transformative dialogue that paves the way for a connected and thriving rural future.?"

• May 27-29th, Casino Rama, Orillia, ON
• November 3-5th, Delta Grand Okanagan, Kelowna, BC

Watch this space for updates. Feel free to contact me to learn more about sponsorship opportnities.

Movie/Streaming Recommendation

Last week I mentioned "The Beekeeper". He's my review.

"The Beekeeper," starring Jason Statham, is a cinematic marvel where Statham, typically seen punching people in the face, tenderly caresses bees instead. Who knew apiculture could be infused with high-octane action? In this film, Statham's character, armed with nothing but a bee suit, a couple of jerry cans, and a smoker, takes on a villainous corporation threatening his beloved hive. It's a perfect blend of suspense, hives, and Statham's trademark scowl. The plot buzzes along predictably, but who's watching for the plot?

We're here for Statham, the bees, and the inexplicable explosions. It's not just a movie; it's a beekeeping manual with a vengeance.

I'd like to see The Beekeper and John Wick duke it out. Who would win?

Until next time

Comments here are my own and do not represent the opinions, views or thoughts of any person, company or organization that I may be associated with.

Feedback, comments and ideas are welcomed. DM me on LinkedIn or contact me at [email protected]