Bell Canada, Aliant get permission for rural wireless broadband plan

Sister telcos Bell Canada and Bell Aliant have been given permission for a plan to use wireless instead of wireline technology for fulfilling broadband rollout obligations in rural areas of Quebec and Ontario, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) announced.

The operators may use HSPA+ wireless data networks to serve 112 communities in the two provinces, after revising a plan which had previously been rejected by the regulator; a decision issued in August 2010 said they must use DSL as wireless services would not offer the same data speeds/volumes/features as their copper-based counterparts in urban areas -- effectively 'discriminating' against rural dwellers.