THUNDER BAY – Tbaytel has taken one step closer to its plans to build a 5G wireless network in Northwestern Ontario, securing crucial blocks of wireless spectrum in a recent federal auction.
The company picked up a share of the 3500 MHz frequency band across most of its service area in the latest spectrum auction run by Innovation, Science, and Economic Development (ISED) Canada.
The 3500 MHz range airwaves are key to providing 5G wireless services, carrying larger volumes of data over long distances.
5G is much faster and capable of handling more connected devices than existing 4G LTE networks, resulting in more reliable service.
The auction win is good news for Tbaytel’s long-term prospects and its ability to keep up with customers’ rising expectations, said communication coordinator Jamie Smith.
“It’s really going to help us deploy the next generation of wireless everyone’s excited about, which is 5G,” he said. “New technologies, new streaming services are all going to demand more [in] the future. Something like 4K Netflix is quite a bit different than the JPEG you sent 10 years ago, and certainly we anticipate that continuing.”
The company began preliminary work to build its 5G network this year.
The blocks it won in the 3500 MHz frequency band, which are ideal for urban and suburban areas, will complement wireless spectrum it acquired in 2019 in the 600 MHz band, which travels further and is more suited to rural areas.
The latest auction was announced in 2020 but delayed by ISED due to COVID-19. Preliminary results published by the department show the action generated a record $8.9 billion.
The country's “big three” providers (Bell, Rogers and Telus) accounted for more than 80 per cent of that total, though 757 of 1,504 available licenses went to smaller or regional companies.
Tbaytel paid around $1.1 million to add an additional 40MHz to its existing 150 MHz in the 3500 MHz range, winning licenses in four areas with a combined population of over 230,000 people: Thunder Bay, Kenora/Sioux Lookout, Marathon, and Iron Bridge.
Bell, Rogers, and Xplornet Communications also secured blocks in the spectrum in Thunder Bay.
Tbaytel’s success in securing blocks in the auction shows it can keep up with those much larger providers, said president and CEO Dan Topatigh in a statement.
“This most recent bid has shown that Tbaytel can win in the hypercompetitive Canadian telecommunication landscape,” he said.
The licences come with 20-year terms, with the government promising licensees “a high expectation of renewal” afterwards.”
