The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has approved Tesla’s application for a Basic International Telecommunications Services (BITS) Licence. The approval was posted on the CRTC website on February 28 and signed by Secretary General Claude Doucet, with the license issued for a period of 10 years. (h/t: Johnny via Michael Geist)
In keeping with the applying Tesla submitted to the CRTC last September, the BITS licence will likely be utilized in two ways:
- Machine-to-Machine cellular data service to enable telemetry data and in-vehicle infotainment services access, including web access
- Mobile terminating SMS to get up vehicles
In its application, Tesla noted that they don’t own nor intend to own transmission facilities in Canada, so any hopes of Tesla Mobile have been dashed. Tesla didn’t go into further details in the applying about when these operations would go live in Canada.
Of the handfuls of applications currently in front of the CRTC, Tesla is the one BITS application with interventions. Of those interventions, three were negative, and the remaining were positive. The negative interventions referred to Tesla as a “meme of an organization” and Elon Musk as a “megalomaniac billionaire.” The CRTC noted nonetheless that these interveners weren’t in a position to substantiate their claims.
Tesla applied for the BITS licence back in September, but government processes meant that public comments wrapped up in early December. After considering the interventions, the Secretary-General issued the licence today.
“After consideration of the comments received, the Commission has approved the applying and a BITS licence for a period of 10 years is enclosed,” the approval reads.