The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is launching a public consultation about the development of a standard for reporting mobile coverage areas in Canada.
Per details shared by the commission, the goal of the new standard is to more accurately find and address gaps in mobile coverage. The CRTC says that 99.5 per cent of the Canadian population has access to mobile services, but its research shows many still find significant coverage gaps.
Alongside helping identify coverage gaps, the new reporting standard would assist the CRTC in obtaining higher-quality data about mobile coverage from service providers, which would aid Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) in creating more accurate coverage maps. The data would also help ISED in policy and funding decisions, as well as managing spectrum.
The consultation comes alongside a decision from the CRTC to make more data on broadband internet and mobile services publicly available through ISED’s National Broadband Map.
Prior to the decision, the CRTC only shared some data with ISED to maintain the map, while keeping some data it collects confidential. Going forward, the CRTC will make some of this confidential data available for ISED to publicly share via the map. For example, one of the requested data points the CRTC greenlit was mobile and broadband coverage data at the 250 metre road-segment level.
Those interested in participating in the consultation on the new reporting standard can do so via an online form, written comment, or via fax:
You can learn more about the public consultation on the CRTC website.
