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)
According to the application Tesla submitted to the CRTC last September, the BITS licence will be used in two ways:
- Machine-to-Machine cellular data service to enable telemetry data and in-vehicle infotainment services access, including internet access
- Mobile terminating SMS to wake up vehicles
In its application, Tesla noted that they do not own nor intend to own transmission facilities in Canada, so any hopes of Tesla Mobile have been dashed. Tesla did not go into further details in the application about when these operations would go live in Canada.
Of the dozens of applications currently in front of the CRTC, Tesla is the only BITS application with interventions. Of these interventions, three were negative, and the rest were positive. The negative interventions referred to Tesla as a “meme of a company” and Elon Musk as a “megalomaniac billionaire.” The CRTC noted however that these interveners were not able 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 application and a BITS licence for a period of 10 years is enclosed,” the approval reads.
