Canada wants to make it easier to build cell towers and harder for carriers to refuse roaming
Canada is considering some significant changes to the rules governing wireless infrastructure, and today is the deadline for final reply comments.
ISED wants to streamline how new cell towers are approved. Under the proposal, local authorities would generally have 45 days to approve or formally challenge a project. If they don't act within that window, the tower could be considered approved.
Telecom operators could also be allowed to build towers under 15 metres without the usual municipal and public consultation process. ISED is also looking at ways to make small-cell deployment easier, which could matter as carriers densify 5G networks.
There are also important changes on roaming and tower sharing.
ISED has determined that mobile roaming should generally be considered technically feasible. The wording requiring carriers to provide roaming only "where technically feasible" is being removed. Instead, roaming must be offered upon request when the customer's device can access the host network.
A similar change applies to tower sharing: carriers would be required to share antenna sites when requested, while technical disputes would move to arbitration instead of being decided directly by ISED.
The government says tower sharing and mandatory roaming are particularly important for smaller and regional carriers because they allow them to offer broader coverage without duplicating every piece of infrastructure.
The consultation has attracted submissions from Bell, Rogers, TELUS, Québecor, Eastlink, SaskTel, Xplore, Cogeco, CanWISP, municipalities and many others.
