For Canadian wireless users, the next generation is coming.
Two of Canada's first advanced, fourth-generation (4G) wireless networks – capable of faster speeds, greater download capacity and a more seamless flow of information – are now officially being built and tested.
But the 4G networks, which are an improvement over the current third-generation (3G) wireless networks currently in operation here, will be brought to market by two starkly different Canadian telecom giants.
On the urban side, Rogers RGI.B-T announced it will be the first major provider to conduct technical trials of 4G long-term evolution (LTE) wireless technology, which has only been deployed in a handful of countries around the world. It is designed for smart phones and mobile Internet data sticks, and enables ultra-fast speeds on bandwidth-intensive downloads like high-definition video.
But the pre-eminent rural provider in Canada, Barrett Xplore Inc., is also building its own 4G network to serve remote and rural households, The Globe and Mail has learned. And it will not focus on smart phones – at first.
The family-owned, Woodstock, N.B.-based provider will continue to focus on rural Canadians from coast to coast with Wi-Max technology, which has been popularized by the Sprint Nextel Corp. and Google Inc.-funded Clearwire Corp. in the United States.
Telecom carriers across the globe have seen wireless data use soar as consumers increasingly utilize bandwidth-intensive smart phone applications, such as YouTube, and watch an increasing amount of TV and movies on their Internet-connected laptops. By launching 4G networks, both Rogers and Barrett – in two very different ways – are trying to solve the same problem: How to give consumers what they want in an era of rapid technological change. Rogers’ early move with LTE network testing is yet another attempt to cement a network advantage over rivals BCE Inc. and Telus Corp., which teamed up to build a wireless network to match Rogers’ more advanced one in late 2009. For Barrett, the move to 4G Wi-Max is an assertion that the company will continue to be the primary rural-focused Internet provider in Canada, leaving the large, hyper-competitive urban areas to its much bigger rivals.
Barrett’s bold move to provide more affordable service to rural Canadians, with better speeds and higher download caps, comes ahead of a crucial CRTC hearing in late October to determine whether high-speed broadband Internet should be mandated as a “basic service” across the country. In many rural and remote areas, Internet service is much slower and less reliable – with some still on dial-up modems.
“The most exciting part about 4G is that we can turn the dial away from access and begin talking about benefits – how we can advantage rural Canada,” said John Maduri, Barrett’s chief executive officer, said in an interview. “I think this is a productivity play, there are advantages to this country and the great size, we all know those. But we’re not Singapore or Japan in terms of population density. We can use broadband to eliminate the disadvantages of distance.”
Building the new Wi-Max network is also an attempt to address existing customers’ serious concerns about the slow speeds and limited download capacity of existing wireless Internet and satellite service. By the end of 2012, the company’s 4G WiMax network –capable of delivering over the wireless airwaves similar speeds now available to urban cable Internet subscribers – will reach 2.5-million households across rural Canada. Next-generation satellites being launched in the spring of 2011 and 2012 will be able to serve communities where towers are not being built, including remote areas and much of the northern territories.
Although the family-owned company is much smaller than BCE Inc., Telus Corp. or Rogers Communications Inc., Barrett is starting construction on a 4G network this fall to solidify its position as a seller of broadband Internet to rural Canadians.
