Whereas intermittent or complete lack of cellular services in remote communities and along over 5,000 km of BCs rural highways creates a significant barrier for access to emergency services, negatively affects emergency response time, and increases public safety risk; And whereas there is a market failure to provide cellular services where revenue cannot support costs to deploy and maintain the service: Therefore be it resolved that the Province set targets to close gaps in cellular service in remote communities and along rural highway sections, and oblige service providers in partnership with all levels of government to close these gaps.
Ministry of Citizens Services The Province recognizes the importance of cellular connectivity along provincial highways and in rural communities, especially for public safety and the role it plays in economic development and tourism. Cellular service along highways is essential for immediate access to emergency services when they are needed most. Telecommunications in Canada is regulated by the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission and therefore the province cannot compel service providers to expand cellular services. The Federal Government recently launched a new national connectivity strategy where the expansion of cellular services is being studied. The Province is working with other levels of government on developing a costing model for the expansion of cellular coverage along highways across Canada. Once this work around cellular model costing has been completed, the Province will work with the federal government on what their targets are to understand the national target and how they may apply to individual provinces and territories. There is a role for local governments in the process to assist in facilitating access to local infrastructure that can help support new cellular equipment such as antennas. The Province is studying the role of this local infrastructure and how it can be used more effectively to accelerate the deployment of cellular and broadband infrastructure.
FCM Insufficient access to mobile services, in particular along rural Canadian roads and highways, poses a significant public safety risk to motorists and travelers in need of emergency services. Although the federal government has deployed a number of programs that are meant to expand mobile coverage, those programs have tended to favour fixed broadband over mobile rollouts, leaving several rural areas without reliable coverage. FCM continues to actively contribute to the development of a framework for the Public Safety Broadband Network PSBN, which could expand mobile coverage to rural areas for public safety users. However, even the PSBN cannot guarantee the safety of Canadians travelling along roads and highways in remote areas. Without government intervention, service providers have little incentive to extend wireless coverage to the Canadians that need it most. Through this resolution, FCM is calling on the federal government to set targets for closing cellular service gaps in remote communities and along rural highway sections; to identify and address those gaps and support all orders of government and the private sector in addressing cellular coverage and connectivity issues, through data collection and publication; and to oblige cellular service providers, in partnership with all orders of government, to provide a base-level of mobile coverage across Canada. This will ensure federal accountability with respect to the second objective of Canadas Connectivity Strategy, which is to ensure that mobile coverage is available where Canadians live and work, and along major road corridors.