The Canadian government is set to announce a “revolutionary” 5G project later today, with the initiative itself also closely involving the governments of Quebec and Ontario who are expected to work with the federal administration on its planned wireless push. The trio will share more details on the matter in several hours at a dedicated event taking place at the Fairmont Château Laurier in Ottawa, Ontario. Canada is hoping its initiative will incentivize more digital businesses to consider it as their possible destination that can ensure high-speed connections, as well as other infrastructural and market conditions conducive to startup-like growth.
Ultimately, the goal of the project is to strengthen Canada’s economy by attracting more businesses and having them create additional jobs, according to the government’s official communication. More details on the matter should follow Monday morning, with the event being scheduled to take place at 9:30 AM ET. The Ottawa City Hall is already a 5G testbed where Canada’s Communications Research Centre recently set up an experimental network running on the 28GHz band. As is the case with the majority of 5G projects being pursued across the world, the Canadian telecom industry is expected to focus on such millimeter-wave spectrum as part of its 5G buildouts, leveraging high-frequency bands in order to improve the capacities and significantly lower the latencies of contemporary mobile infrastructure.
The main drawback to that approach comes in the form of unprecedentedly high network densification requirements that are relatively high compared to more traditional solutions, with mmWave signals having weak penetration capabilities and not being able to travel long on their own, in part due to their tendency to be absorbed by rain and foliage. Wireless carriers in the United States and other countries experimenting with mmWave technologies addressed that issue with massive small cell buildouts and Canadian wireless carriers are likely to follow suit, with the country still planning to start large-scale 5G deployment by 2019.