The objective of Blue Sky Net is to construct the required wireless, open access infrastructure to serve communities in Northeastern Ontario that currently have no or limited access to high speed data communications.

Transmission and backhaul equipment will be installed on towers throughout the coverage area, of which several will be newly constructed. The network utilizes a hub and spoke architecture with multiple subnets. These subnets interconnect with Fibre Networks in multiple locations.  These connection points also provide the interface to existing ISPs serving the region. Point-to-point Backhaul radio links from local towers carry the traffic back to the  fibre POPs where bandwidth is fed from.

For the last mile access to customers, towers in the network typically transmits radio signals at 900 MHz and some at 5.8 GHz. Residential customers will typically access the network at 900 MHz. Initially customers will access the service with building mounted antenna installed by a central service for all ISPs. If an area, or community, reaches a critical mass of customers within a ½ -1 Km radius, 2.4 Ghz 802.11 devices may be installed and customers may access the network with WiFi cards. Higher bandwidth users who have a Clear Line of Site to the towers and are within 5 Kms of it may require network access through the higher 5.8 GHz connection where available.

Transport Technologies

The Transport Network utilizes a hybrid fibre/wireless design employing existing fibre facilities to access bandwidth and provide equal access for ISPs combined with state of the art fixed wireless broadband technologies.

The transport technology solution includes the following components:

• Fibre backbone POPs providing access to the  and ISPs
• 50-100 Mbps 18 GHz Fast Ethernet backbone access links (licensed wireless) that are upgradeable to 240 Gbps should it be required in future.
• 36 Mbps 5.8 GHz Ethernet backbone links upgradeable to 72 Mbps backbone (license exempt wireless) utilized as the last link in a subnet where lower traffic is expected.
• Ethernet switches at each of the subnet aggregation points
• UPS backup power supplies at each of the tower sites to backbone network integrity in the case of a power interruption.
• SNMP manageable elements to ensure the highest availability network

Access Technologies

The local access fixed wireless solution consists of either point-to-point or point-to-multi-point radio paths between the base station tower and the customers. Point-to-point wireless is used to connect customers requiring 5 Mbps or higher (e.g., VPN service) and point-to-multi-point is used for the majority of the residential and small business connections. The Access technologies employed in the Blue Sky Broadband network are a combination of 900 Mhz, 2.4 Ghz WiFi 802.11b FHSS (Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum) and 5.8 Ghz OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) licence exempt fixed wireless technology to ensure maximum coverage in dense tree foliage and challenging terrain (that may require non-line of sight). The coverage areas of these technologies enable customers to receive the signal if they are typically within a 12 km radius of the tower. The proposed network is configured to provide considerable overlap at the fringe areas of most base stations, thereby increasing the probability of partial line of sight to more potential users. 

Capacity and Scalability

The network is capable of being scaled to provide for expansion in any hub or to accommodate the projected backhaul requirements. Should the capacity be insufficient to handle demand then a fibre node would be installed to alleviate the bottleneck. The total scalability of the network shows that the network is capable of being increased substantially. Local access capacity at individual base stations can be upgraded by increasing the total capacity per sector (by utilizing appropriately spaced channels) should it be required.

Network Security

The network contains several layers of security including over the air encryption. Licensed backhaul systems are, by nature, resistant to data intercept and decoding. The radios used include a number of imbedded security aspects such as: directional point-to-point communication, narrow beamwidth, bit-level data stream with synchronization and framing, plus authentication and encryption. These security mechanisms when used in standalone fashion, or when used together provide enhanced protection from data intercept and decoding. In addition to these security measures, all users are authenticated through a radius server with appropriate firewalls and intrusion detection software built in to the network servers and operating systems. Security fences and appropriate physical security are maintained by all tower owners to deter physical intrusion.  The Network utilizes VPN tunneling as appropriate for commercial customers and all base station access technologies employ MAC filtering, encryption and sophisticated over the air protocols that are virtually impossible to intercept and decrypt on the fly.

Network Reliability

All network backbone links have been designed around a minimum of 99.95% availability. All network nodes have been designed with for a minimum of 4 hours UPS backup in case of power outages. Field sparing has been designed for a minimum one spare of each major component with a 10% sparing level for both transport and access components. The network is monitored 24x7x365 through our NOC centre and local field technicians are on call 24x7x365 in case of a major outage. Our equipment suppliers have emergency supply/replacement procedures in order to mitigate the effects of an unforeseen event that might lead to catastrophic failures in the field.

Regulatory Issues

Spectrum licenses for all backhaul links are in progress with Industry Canada. All tower co-location agreements are in progress with the respective tower owners. For all new towers specified in the design, land has been donated by the local councils where available or is in negotiation with private landowners. The project management team is working diligently to co-ordinate all required land leases and co-location agreements. Spectrum Management and Telecommunications  Policy CPC-2-0-03 and Transport Canada regulations and local municipal requirements will be adhered to for all new towers built..

Open Access Policy and Provisions

Local Access Services
Network services and facilities are available to competitive service providers on a resale basis, and using unbundled wholesale services in combination with their own facilities, where technologically feasible. Wholesales rates are competitively priced to DSL and Cable wholesale rates and are generally a minimum of 25% below our lowest retail prices.

ISPs can offer all service packages but would typically package their own unique ISP service offering (including e-mail, web hosting, DNS and other IP services) that would utilize the wholesale bandwidth acquired from Spectrum. Spectrum expects the ISP to utilize their existing IP infrastructure and IP services and simply package with the network bandwidth for the particular service type needed.

Bandwidth

Bandwidth is available on a per Mbps basis to accommodate different end-user requirements or on a per user per type of service basis at wholesale rates for bandwidth that are comparable with those in the urban centres in and around Central Ontario. Sufficient spare capacity has been designed into the network to withstand any request for capacity through the network to 3^rd party service providers.

Wholesale bandwidth services for LAN extension based on Industry standard protocols will be available at rates up to 100Mbps where sufficient network capacity exists

Co-location

Co-location facilities are available to 3^rd party providers and include access to and use of space, associated power, and environmental conditioning at existing locations. Competitive service providers must provide their own local loop to connect their facilities to one of the co-location facilities throughout the region. Co-location rates are competitive with existing rates from other competitive service providers. 

Co-location is also available on new towers at rates competitive market rates, subject to a structural engineering review of the tower loading requirements as well as an RF review to ensure that there is no possibility of interference with other service provider