CPC-2-0-17 — Conditions of Licence for Mandatory Roaming and Antenna Tower and Site Sharing and to Prohibit Exclusive Site Arrangements

The Minister of Industry, through the Department of Industry Act, the Radiocommunication Act and the Radiocommunication Regulations, with due regard to the objectives of the Telecommunications Act, is responsible for spectrum management in Canada. As such, the Minister is responsible for developing policies and processes for the spectrum resource and ensuring effective management of the radio frequency spectrum resource. Subsection 5(1) of the Radiocommunication Act gives the Minister of Industry the power to fix and amend the terms and conditions of spectrum licences. The Minister may suspend or revoke a radio authorization if the Licensees have contravened the Radiocommunication Act, the Radiocommunication Regulations or the terms or conditions of the radio authorizations.

In DGRB-010-07, Consultation on Proposed Conditions of Licence to Mandate Roaming and Antenna Tower and Site Sharing and to Prohibit Exclusive Site Arrangements published on November 28, 2007, Industry Canada initiated a public consultation on proposed conditions of licence for mandatory roaming and antenna tower and site sharing. In November 2008, Industry Canada released CPC-2-0-17, which adopted the licence conditions as set out in DGRB 002-08, Conditions of Licence for Mandatory Roaming and Antenna Tower and Site Sharing and to Prohibit Exclusive Site Arrangements.

In February 2009, comments were sought on issues that arose during the initial tower and site sharing negotiations. In April 2009, Industry Canada issued GL-06, Guidelines for Compliance with the Conditions of Licence Relating to Antenna Tower and Site Sharing and to Prohibit Exclusive Site Arrangements, which clarified some of the phrases used in the conditions of licence.

In November 2010, the Minister of Industry announced that a review of the roaming and tower and site sharing policy would be undertaken. Following the preliminary analysis, a public consultation was launched in March 2012 to provide stakeholders with an opportunity to comment on the proposed changes.

Revisions to the framework were subsequently announced in March 2013 (DGSO-001-13). Those revisions, along with the incorporation of text from GL-06 and from the Responses to Questions for Clarification on the AWS Policy and Licensing Frameworks, are reflected in Issue 2 of this CPC. CPC-2-0-18, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada’s Arbitration Rules and Procedures, was also revised (Issue 2). GL-06 was rescinded following the publication of Issue 2 of this CPC.

In May 2026, ISED published a number of updates to CPC-2-0-17 through the release of DGSO-001-26, Consultation on Amendments to the Tower Siting Process and Decision on Roaming, Tower Sharing and Annual Reporting Requirements for Terrestrial Licences. These updates are reflected in issue 3 of this CPC.

3.1 Application of the condition

The mandatory tower and site sharing conditions of licence apply to all Licensees in all bands who are telecommunications common carriers as defined in the Telecommunications Act.

3.2 Process overview

The antenna tower and site sharing process will have the characteristics outlined below.

Preliminary information and analysis

After having identified a potential site for sharing, the Party that wishes to share (Requesting Operator) may contact the site owner/operator who is subject to the conditions of licence (Responding Licensee) in order to obtain a preliminary information package (PIP) for a technical analysis of the site. Each request for a PIP must be assigned a unique identification number by the Requesting Operator which must be used by both parties as a common sharing request identifier.

When asked, the Responding Licensee must provide the PIP (which includes available technical data on the site) within two weeks of receiving a complete PIP request. The conditions of licence in Annex A of this CPC outline the minimum information required both in the PIP request and in the subsequent response.

Both parties should work together to exchange information expeditiously. The Requesting Operator should consider prioritizing sites when submitting a large number of requests.

The Responding Licensee is responsible for coordinating and granting access to the site on request, as set out in the conditions of licence. Generally speaking, this access should be granted within one week of the request. Extenuating circumstances, such as access to a remote location or adverse weather conditions, could justify a short delay. Should the site be leased, the Responding Licensee must provide the Requesting Operator with the landlord's contact information as part of the PIP. Where an exclusivity clause is in place, the Licensee must provide immediate notification to the landlord demonstrating that it is prepared to waive the exclusivity clause in its agreement.

The Requesting Operator is responsible for carrying out its own technical analysis.

Proposal to share and offer to share

After reviewing and analyzing the PIP, the Requesting Operator may then submit a Proposal to Share to the Responding Licensee, including identification of any technical requirements and/or modifications that the Requesting Operator anticipates may be required to permit sharing. The time frames for this step of the process commence on the date that the Responding Licensee receives the Proposal to Share.

The Responding Licensee is responsible for conducting its own technical analysis, if required, and shall respond within 30 days with a draft Offer to Share (Offer). Note that ISED expects that sharing will be technically feasible.

If after 60 days from the date that the Responding Licensee receives the Proposal to Share, the Responding Licensee and the Requesting Operator have not entered into a Site‑Sharing Agreement or have not agreed to any interim arrangement, the Licensee must then submit or agree to submit the matter to arbitration in accordance with CPC-2-0-18, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada’s Arbitration Rules and Procedures, as amended from time to time.

Outstanding Offer to Share

If within 60 days, the Responding Licensee has not received a response from the Requesting Operator to an Offer to Share, the Licensee may treat the Offer to Share as withdrawn with no further obligations. A response may simply be an acknowledgement by the Requesting Operator that additional time is required to consider the Offer.

Access to ancillary equipment and services

The operation of a Requesting Operator's radiocommunication system relies on more than just mechanical access to an antenna-supporting structure. In order to be considered to be negotiating in good faith, Responding Licensees must offer access to ancillary equipment and services at commercial rates that are reasonably comparable to rates currently charged to others for similar access. Such access and services shall therefore be part of the preliminary information exchange, the negotiations and the eventual arbitration, if required.

Site exclusivity

Where the Licensee is party to an agreement that includes a provision excluding other operators from the use of a Site, then, in order to facilitate the sharing of Sites, the Licensee must consent to waiving that portion of the agreement to facilitate a Request to Share. As applicable, the Licensee must consent to or, in a commercially reasonable manner, seek the consent of third parties to the assignment, sublease or other rights of access to Sites, pursuant to any agreement or arrangement to which the Licensee is a party. In addition, the Licensee must not enter into or renew agreements that exclude other operators from using a Site. Licence conditions do not apply to independent landlords. However, exclusivity provisions may be waived by either party to a lease, including either or both the Licensee and an independent landlord.

Reservations for licensees' future requirement

Mandatory tower sharing does not displace the Responding Licensee's needs in favour of the Requesting Operator's, but requires that both parties be open to negotiating fair commercial terms for access; neither does the licence condition force the Responding Licensee to replace or rebuild a tower at its own expense.

ISED expects both near-term and longer term future use requirements to be the subject of good faith negotiations. Unless a space on an antenna tower is properly identified as reserved for "imminent future use" or "reserved for a third party" in accordance with this CPC, that space must be deemed to be available for negotiation of a tower sharing agreement.

Imminent future use: Equipment installations specifically identified in the Responding Licensee's plans and to be installed within the 18 months immediately following the submission of a PIP request may be identified as "imminent future use" on the tower profile portion of the PIP. Plans for use of this space are not expected to be disrupted for the purposes of this condition of licence unless both parties agree to negotiate access to the space. As imminent use forms a portion of near term future needs, plans for imminent future use must be reasonable and well‑documented.

Where an assessment of non-compliance is being made with respect to this requirement, the Licensee may be required to provide evidence (such as installation agreements, appropriate authorizations or other relevant documentation) to ISED demonstrating that the space will be put into service within 18 months.

Reservations beyond 18 months: Where the tower owner is reserving space because there is a plan to install equipment on the tower beyond the next 18 months, that space may be identified as "future use" in the PIP and dealt with during the negotiation process. Reasonable and well-documented near-term needs beyond 18 months are legitimate considerations in the negotiation process. Longer term future needs alone will not be considered a reason not to share.

Reservations for a third party: Any space reserved on a tower identified for future use by a third party (where a contract is in place for a specific location on a tower) should be identified as part of the PIP. In this situation, as is the case with the Licensee's future plans, a third party's imminent installation is not expected to be disrupted, unless all the parties reach an agreement. All other third party future plans (near‑term and longer term) should be open to three-way negotiations.

3.3 Confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements (NDAs)

Since most of the information included in the response to a PIP request is in the public domain and since only basic technical information is being shared (including information regarding imminent future use), ISED does not believe that a non‑disclosure agreement (NDA) is required prior to the release of the PIP and would therefore not be a valid reason to delay providing the PIP.

If parties agree to sign an NDA during their negotiations, it should be appropriate and generic in nature, should not include provisions that are unique to a single operator or group and should not prohibit negotiation with other parties nor prohibit communication with ISED.

4.1 Application of the condition

The conditions of licence apply to all Licensees in the Cellular, Personal Communications Services (PCS), Advanced Wireless Services (AWS), Mobile Broadband Service (MBS) and Broadband Radio Service (BRS) bands.

Roaming enables a subscriber (a Roamer) already served by one carrier's network (the Home Network) to originate or terminate voice or data traffic on another carrier's network (the Host Network). Accordingly, a subscriber cannot roam unless he or she is already served on another radio access network. A carrier must therefore be offering service on its own network before its subscribers may benefit from roaming on another network, thus it does not include resale.

Given the widespread domestic and international agreements already in place, ISED does not foresee technical barriers to roaming. As such, ISED generally considers roaming to be technically feasible.

Roaming must be offered upon request. Given the wide range of Roaming Agreements currently in place, both domestically and internationally, across networks operating with a range of technologies, ISED does not anticipate that technical feasibility will be an impediment to roaming. The basic technical requirement for roaming is that the subscriber has a device technically capable of accessing the Host Network.

As a general principle, roaming should provide a Roamer with the ability to access voice and data services offered by the Roamer's Home Network at a level of quality comparable to that offered for similar services by the Host Network carrier to its own subscribers. For further clarity, the policy does not require a Host Network carrier to provide a Roamer with a service that the Host Network operator does not itself provide to its own subscribers, nor to provide a Roamer with a service which the Roamer's Home Network operator does not itself provide.

Seamless communications hand‑off between Home and Host Networks (i.e. which ensures no interruption of communications in progress) is not mandated; however, this service may be the subject of negotiations.

Roaming should provide for the origination and termination of calls on the Host Network automatically, without the need for any special facilitating action by the Roamer.

Nothing in the policy, however, is intended to limit the ability of carriers to conclude commercial agreements that are not mandated by this policy.

4.2 Process overview

Requests for mandatory roaming on Cellular, PCS, AWS, MBS and BRS Licensees' networks will follow the process outlined below.

Preliminary information and analysis

The Party that wishes to roam (Requesting Operator) may contact the Cellular, PCS, AWS, MBS or BRS Licensee who is subject to conditions of licence for mandatory roaming (Responding Licensee) to obtain a preliminary information package (PIP) in order to prepare a proposal to enter into a Roaming Agreement (Roaming Proposal). Upon request, the Responding Licensee must provide available technical information, such as technical data, engineering information, network requirements and other information relevant to formulating a Roaming Proposal within two weeks of receiving the request.

Roaming proposal and offer

After reviewing and analyzing the PIP, the Requesting Operator may then submit a Roaming Proposal to the Responding Licensee.

The Responding Licensee must respond to a Roaming Proposal from a Requesting Operator within 30 days with a response in writing and an offer to enter into a Roaming Agreement.

If after 60 days from the date that the Responding Licensee receives the Roaming Proposal, the Responding Licensee and the Requesting Operator have not entered into a Roaming Agreement or have not agreed to any interim arrangement, the Licensee must submit or agree to submit the matter to arbitration in accordance with CPC-2-0-18, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada’s Arbitration Rules and Procedures, as amended from time to time.

Outstanding Offer to Roam

If within 60 days, the Responding Licensee has not received a response from the Requesting Operator to an Offer to Roam, the Licensee may treat the Offer to Roam as withdrawn with no further obligations. A response may simply be an acknowledgement by the Requesting Operator that additional time is required to consider the Offer to Roam.

5.1 Costs

Costs incurred at each step of the roaming and tower sharing processes will generally be borne by the party carrying out the step. For instance, the cost of technical analyses in the preliminary information stage or carried out in order to prepare or respond to a Proposal to Share or a Roaming Proposal will be borne by the parties conducting the analyses. The Requesting Operator would not have to compensate the Responding Licensee for costs associated with providing the existing technical information about the site, including the Responding Licensee's review of such requests and technical analysis. Furthermore, the Requesting Operator would not have to compensate the Responding Licensee for costs associated with providing existing technical information related to the mandatory roaming arrangement requested.

Although it is anticipated that, in general, costs associated with the arbitration process will be apportioned equally between the party requesting sharing and the responding party, the Arbitration Rules allow the Arbitrator the discretion to allocate costs.

Generally, costs associated with any public consultation or land‑use consultation will be the responsibility of the Requesting Operator.

5.2 Implementing the conditions following a licensing process

Responding Licensees must respond to requests for information and Proposals to Share or Roaming Proposals received from a provisional licence winner prior to licence issuance.

Parties can also contact ISED at any time during negotiations where clarification is required with respect to the application or interpretation of the conditions of licence. All issues relating to technical disputes or commercial terms (such as rates or terms contained in agreements) are to be dealt with through negotiation with recourse to arbitration.

5.3 Negotiation process time frame

The Requesting Operator and Responding Licensee may choose to negotiate or use any agreed upon arbitration or mediation process in order to finalize the negotiation process within the timelines set out in the conditions of licence. Note that, by agreement, the parties may choose to extend their negotiations. However, should the timelines outlined in the conditions of licence expire, then, in the absence of any final or interim agreement, either party may initiate the arbitration process and both parties will be compelled to follow the process established by ISED under CPC-2-0-18, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada’s Arbitration Rules and Procedures.

5.4 Arbitration

If the parties cannot complete negotiations and come to an agreement, they may choose any method of dispute resolution. In lieu of an agreement on dispute resolution, the licensees must agree to use the mandatory arbitration procedures as specified in CPC-2-0-18, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada’s Arbitration Rules and Procedures.

5.5 Compliance and enforcement of the conditions of licence

The Minister of Industry has the authority under Subsection 5(2) of the Radiocommunication Act to suspend or revoke a radio authorization where the Licensee has contravened the terms or conditions of that authorization. Where a Licensee is found to be in non-compliance with these conditions of licence, ISED may consider the suspension or revocation, in whole or in part, of the Licensee's radio and/or spectrum licences associated with the site where the breach of licence occurred. In addition, the Licensee may be subject to prosecution if it is operating equipment without complying with the terms of its authorization, including these conditions of licence.

5.6 Monitoring the effectiveness of the conditions of licence

The revised conditions of licence have been developed to further facilitate roaming and tower sharing agreements in order to advance the policy objectives of supporting competition, encouraging investment and reducing tower proliferation. Should these conditions of licence prove to be insufficient in facilitating these goals, the Minister of Industry, in accordance with Paragraph 5(1)(b) of the Radiocommunication Act, may consider further amending the terms and conditions of the licences or seeking other policy and/or legislative solutions.

Many spectrum licences have been issued with a high expectation of renewal; however, that expectation only applies where the licence conditions are being met. As a result, a renewal may be denied or a licence not fully renewed where there is a breach of any of the conditions of licence. This has been clearly articulated in various policy and licensing documents and has remained a consistent criterion for the renewal of all long‑term licences.

Furthermore, to the extent that non‑compliance impairs or frustrates the policy objectives for which these licence conditions were established, consideration may be given in future licensing processes to more prescriptive and/or restrictive policy measures. Such policy changes could affect ISED's future plans for spectrum use, licensing and renewal.

In addition to the regular reporting requirements specified in the conditions of licence, licensees are required to provide ISED with information relating to roaming and tower sharing activities as per this CPC, upon request. Where the response includes information that the licensee deems to be confidential or commercially sensitive in nature, the information should be labelled as such. ISED will treat all information received in accordance with the Access to Information Act.

The mandatory tower and site sharing conditions of licence apply to all Licensees in all bands who are telecommunications common carriers as defined in the Telecommunications Act.

1. The Licensee must facilitate sharing of antenna towers and sites, including rooftops, supporting structures and access to ancillary equipment and services ("Sites") and not cause or contribute to the exclusion of other telecommunications common carriers from gaining access to Sites. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing:

• where the Licensee is party to an agreement that includes a provision excluding other operators from the use of a Site, then, in order to facilitate the sharing of Sites, the Licensee must consent to waiving that portion of the agreement to facilitate a Request to Share
• as applicable, the Licensee must consent to or, in a commercially reasonable manner, seek the consent of third parties to the assignment, sublease or other rights of access to Sites pursuant to any agreement or arrangement to which the Licensee is a party
• the Licensee must not enter into or renew agreements that exclude other operators from using a Site

2. The Licensee must share its sites containing antenna-supporting structures when requested to do so by any other telecommunications common carrier as defined in the Telecommunications Act or by a provisional licence winner who will be operating as a telecommunications common carrier in accordance with a licensing process (A Requesting Operator).

3. In order to satisfy the condition of Site Sharing in accordance with this licence, the Licensee must respond within two weeks of receiving a complete request for a preliminary information package (PIP) from a Requesting Operator as follows:

• the following information must be included in the PIP response where it is available to the Responding Licensee: the unique sharing request identifier assigned by the Requesting Operator; tower loading profile, including imminent future use and the summary of existing leases; contracted third party lease arrangement contacts; compound layout; tower foundation design and Transport Canada and/or NAV Canada form(s); as well as site access information, such as contact, procedure and any specific restriction related to a site visit. The PIP response must also include other information relating to the Site relevant to formulating a Proposal to Share that the Licensee has in its possession or control
• upon reasonable notice by the Requesting Operator, the Licensee shall facilitate access to the Site so that a formal Proposal to Share can be formulated

4. The Licensee must respond to a Proposal to Share from a Requesting Operator within 30 days as follows:

• the Licensee must provide the Requesting Operator with a response in writing and an offer to enter into a Site‑Sharing Agreement. ISED expects that Site‑Sharing Agreements, including access to ancillary equipment and services, will be offered at commercial rates that are reasonably comparable to rates currently charged to others for similar access

5. Licensees must negotiate with a Requesting Operator in good faith, with a view to concluding a Site Sharing Agreement in a timely manner. In order to be considered as negotiating in good faith, Responding Licensees must offer access to ancillary equipment and services at commercial rates that are reasonably comparable to rates currently charged to others for similar access.

6. If after 60 days from the date that the Licensee receives a Proposal to Share, the Licensee and the Requesting Operator have not entered into a Site-Sharing Agreement or have not agreed to any interim arrangement, the Licensee must submit or agree to submit the matter to arbitration in accordance with CPC-2-0-18, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada’s Arbitration Rules and Procedures, as amended from time to time. The Licensee shall agree that the Arbitral Tribunal shall have all necessary powers to determine all of the questions in dispute (including those relating to determining the appropriate terms of the Site Sharing Agreement and those relating to procedural matters under the arbitration) and that any arbitral award or results under this condition of licence shall be final and binding with no right of appeal, subject to applicable provincial or territorial legislation. The Licensee must participate fully in such arbitration and follow all directions of the Arbitral Tribunal in accordance with Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada’s Arbitration Rules and Procedures and any arbitration procedures established by the Arbitral Tribunal.

7. If within 60 days, the Licensee has not received a response from the Requesting Operator to an Offer to Share, the Licensee may treat the Offer to Share as withdrawn with no further obligations.

The conditions of licence described below apply to all Licensees in the Cellular, Personal Communications Services (PCS), Advanced Wireless Services (AWS), Mobile Broadband Service (MBS) and Broadband Radio Service (BRS) bands.

1. The Licensee must provide automatic digital roaming (roaming) by way of a Roaming Agreement(s) on all of its networks in the Cellular, PCS, AWS, MBS and BRS bands in all of its licensed service areas to any other Licensee in these bands, including a provisional licence winner in accordance with a licensing process in these bands (A Requesting Operator).

2. The roaming which must be offered in accordance with this licence condition is defined by the following characteristics:

• roaming must enable a subscriber (a Roamer) already served by the Requesting Operator's network (Home Network) to originate or terminate communications on the Licensee's network (Host Network)
• the roaming offered must provide connectivity for voice and data services, including access to the public‑switched network and the Internet, regardless of the spectrum band or underlying network technology used, provided that the Roamer's device is technically capable of accessing the Licensee's network. Roaming should provide a Roamer with the ability to access voice and data services offered by the Home Network at a level of quality comparable to that offered for similar services by the Licensee's Network. For greater certainty, this condition does not require the Licensee to provide to a Roamer a service which the Licensee does not itself provide on the Host Network, nor to provide to a Roamer a service or level of service which the Requesting Operator will not or does not itself provide
• roaming as provided for in this condition does not include resale
• roaming can commence as soon as the Requesting Operator is offering service on its own radio access network and a Roaming Agreement is in place
• roaming does not require communications hand-off between Home and Host Networks, such that there is no interruption of communications in progress
• roaming should function without the need for any special facilitating action by the customer

3. In order to satisfy the condition of roaming in accordance with this licence, the Licensee must respond to a request for information by a Requesting Operator within two weeks of receiving the request by providing a preliminary information package (PIP) to the Requesting Operator that includes preliminary technical information, such as technical data, engineering information, network requirements and other information relevant to formulating a Roaming Proposal.

4. The Licensee must respond to a Roaming Proposal from a Requesting Operator within 30 days as follows:

• the Licensee must provide the Requesting Operator with a response in writing and an offer to enter into a Roaming Agreement. ISED expects that roaming agreements will be offered at commercial rates that are reasonably comparable to rates currently charged to others for similar roaming services

5. Licensees must negotiate with a Requesting Operator in good faith, with a view to concluding a Roaming Agreement in a timely manner.

6. If after 60 days from the date that the Licensee receives the Roaming Proposal, the Licensee and the Requesting Operator have not entered into a Roaming Agreement or have not agreed to any interim arrangement, the Licensee must submit or agree to submit the matter to arbitration, in accordance with CPC-2-0-18, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada’s Arbitration Rules and Procedures, as amended from time to time. The Licensee shall agree that the Arbitral Tribunal shall have all necessary powers to determine all of the questions in dispute (including those relating to determining the appropriate terms of the Roaming Agreement and those relating to procedural matters under the arbitration) and that any arbitral award or results under this condition of licence shall be final and binding with no right of appeal, subject to applicable provincial or territorial legislation. The Licensee must participate fully in such an arbitration and follow all directions of the Arbitral Tribunal in accordance with Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada’s Arbitration Rules and Procedures and any arbitration procedures established by the Arbitral Tribunal.

7. If the Responding Licensee has not received a response from the Requesting Operator to an Offer to Roam within 60 days, the Licensee may treat the Offer to Roam as withdrawn with no further obligations.