Telecom Trends

The CRTC's decision earlier this week (2008-6) has a clear listing of Telemarketing rules in its Appendix.

These are actually quite useful for consumers and callers alike as a single collection point for all of the current regulations applying to unsolicited calls, whether from live humans, fax broadcasts or those pesky automatic dialing announcement devices.

Among other items, it clarifies the requirements for those fax broadcast people who, I think get paid by the maker of my fax machine (in order to help them sell more toner cartridges).

A telemarketer sending a fax telemarketing telecommunication shall clearly provide the following information at the top of the first page in font size 12 or larger:

(a) the name of the telemarketer sending the fax, whether the telemarketing telecommunication is made on its own behalf or on behalf of a client of the telemarketer;

(b) the name of the client when the telemarketing telecommunication is being made on behalf of a client of the telemarketer;

(c) the originating date and time of the fax;

(d) a voice and a fax telecommunications number that allows access to an employee or other representative of the telemarketer and, where applicable, the client of the telemarketer, for the purpose of asking questions, making comments about the telemarketing telecommunication, or making or verifying a do not call request; and

(e) the name and address of an employee or other representative of the telemarketer and, where applicable, the client of the telemarketer, to whom the consumer can write for the purpose of asking questions, making comments about the fax, or making or verifying a do not call request.

Right. I have never received this much information in the entire junk fax, let alone all at the top in "font size 12".

Like voice-based telemarketers, how will any of these rules stop unwanted communications that originate off-shore? Why is there no clear statement that simply states that all clients need to register and need to ensure that telemarketing performed on their behalf conforms to these rules?

Technorati Tags:
CRTC, telemarketing

AT&T (NYSE: T) has called for Canada to relax its foreign investment restrictions.

According to AT&T, the current rules are the most restrictive of any country in the OECD and the rules

impose inefficiencies in the delivery of critical telecommunications services that harm consumer and business users throughout Canada's economy and limit economic growth in Canada.

AT&T's proposed remedy for the restrictions to be eliminated completely, or as an interim alternative, that foreign ownership restrictions be relaxed for telecommunications services providers with market share of less than 10% in any telecom services market.

AT&T's submission points out the lack of symmetry with relaxed US rules that have enabled T-Mobile USA, wholly owned by German Deutsche Telekom, to become a significant market player south of the border.

AT&T's submission includes references to Canadian studies (such as the Telecom Policy Review Panel and the Commons Committee on Industry, Science and Technology) that appear to contradict some of the assertions set out in the CRTC's position paper, the subject of yesterday's posting.

A senior leader of AT&T will be delivering a keynote address at The Canadian Telecom Summit in June.

Technorati Tags:
ATT, Competition Policy

Billboard has the full text of yesterday's speech given by U2 manager Paul McGuinness at the MIDEM conference in Cannes.

His remarks call for ISPs to get involved in the policing of the content being carried across their network.

Despite selling their broadband service on the basis of sharing photos and sending emails, McGuinness says that music sharing - illegal music sharing - is the killer app that justifies $25 broadband.

In his speech, he says that Radiohead's widely reported 'honesty box' demonstrates that given the choice to get music for free from an authorized site, the majority will still steal using other peer-to-peer applications.

It's time for a new approach -- time for ISPs to start taking responsibility for the content they've profited from for years.
...
For ISPs in general, the days of prevaricating over their responsibilities for helping protect music must end. The ISP lobbyists who say they should not have to "police the internet" are living in the past -- relying on outdated excuses from an earlier technological age.
...
And as it turned, the "Safe Harbour" concept was really a Thieves' Charter. The legal precedent that device-makers and pipe and network owners should not be held accountable for any criminal activity enabled by their devices and services has been enormously damaging to content owners and developing artists. If you were publishing a magazine that was advertising stolen cars, processing payments for them and arranging delivery of them you'd expect to get a visit from the police wouldn't you? What's the difference?

Technorati Tags:
U2, Paul McGuinness, illegal content

With a little bit of linguistic gymnastics, the CRTC sided with Videotron in the dispute that I wrote about last week.

Recall that the dispute goes back to a Bell complaint that Videotron's installation practices result in Bell having to roll a truck if the location ever wants to reconnect to Bell service.

As I suggested last week, the Commission reached a conclusion in just a week:

In this Decision, the Commission determines that Vidéotron ltée's proposed disconnection practices when disconnecting Bell Canada's network from a residential customer's inside wire are not unreasonable. Accordingly, the Commission denies Bell Canada's application.

You just have to learn to love the double negative of regulatory decisions!

Technorati Tags:
CRTC, network interface, Bell, Videotron

In the wake of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's speech at the Conference Board of Canada event yesterday, I am just getting around to posting some thoughts about some of the submissions to the Competition Policy Review Panel.

I was somewhat intrigued to see that the CRTC submitted a paper with 5 recommendations, starting off with one that sought to replace the Broadcast Act and Telecom Act, with a new converged Communications Act:

There should be a single Act governing broadcasting, telecommunications and radiocommunication.

The CRTC added 4 more recommendations: streamlining regulations while moving to ex-post regulation but first ensuring the Commission has powers to impose monetary penalties; move spectrum licensing for telecom away from Industry Canada [a recommendation I endorsed last month]; a merger review process with clear and distinct roles for the CRTC and Competition Bureau; maintaining foreign ownership restrictions for both content providers and carriers.

I found it to be particularly interesting that the Commission intervened in the consultation, rather than waiting to simply administer whatever rules are set forth by the government on the other side of the river.

A lively discussion could arise from at least one part of the submission:

The economics of Internet production do not favour local content. As localism is eroded, the maintenance of Canadian capacity in the form of Canadian-owned and –controlled companies will become more critical. A branch plant economy for cultural production and distribution is difficult to envisage. Multi-national enterprises would have little incentive to create uniquely national content.

There is a lot of material in this little paragraph. I wonder if this could be an exercise for my grad students this weekend. Hmmm.

We'll see if these points attract debate later this year; the CRTC's workplan calls for hearings in 2008 on the impacts of New Media on the Broadcasting and Telecommunications system.

Technorati Tags:
CRTC, Competition Policy

The CRTC has issued its decision (2008-6) on delegation of investigation of telemarketing complaints.

In a nutshell, everyone who makes telemarketing calls, and their clients (the companies that hire telemarketers to make calls on their behalf) will need to register with a new agency. The CRTC explicitly rejected a call to exempt the registration of those making calls that are exempt from the Do Not Call registry.

One might have thought that clubs would be exempt because they are calling people with whom a business relationship exists. Every girl scout that calls to sell cookies, every school kid that calls to sell you tickets, every club member that calls to tell you about their car wash - everyone of these people is a telemarketer under the CRTC's definition. Even if they only call families within the school, if there is money involved in the call, it is telemarketing.

If the kids call from their home phone, that phone better be registered. Our kids are telemarketers. The client is their club. Each kid as well as the club will have to register and pay $100. And parents, you better make sure that the club has registered because your phone line is now being used for telemarketing purposes. By the way, mom and dad, you have to keep a copy of club's registration - and proof of their fees paid - for 3 years in case of an audit.

Back in September, I wrote that I thought the Section 41.7(1) of Telecom Act specifically exempts the following classes of callers from any database registry: calls made when an business relationship exists, calls from a registered charity, newspaper, political party, etc. The CRTC's response was that all 9 of the parties that pointed out the conflict in 41.7(1) were mistaken. The CRTC said that Section 41.2 lets it administer databases (beyond the DNCL), although mysteriously, the exemption from any databases doesn't seem to apply.

There were some suggestions that all of the costs should be paid by the telecom services providers. After all, they are the biggest beneficiaries of telemarketing. The phone companies tried to get compensated for helping with the investigations - the CRTC said no to that; it is a cost of doing business.

Here is how this decision chases jobs out of Canada. The CRTC has established new rules:

A telemarketer shall not initiate a telemarketing telecommunication on its own behalf unless it has registered with, and provided information to, the National DNCL operator and has paid all applicable fees charged by the Complaints Investigator delegate.

A telemarketer shall not initiate a telemarketing telecommunication on behalf of a client unless that client has registered with, and provided information to, the National DNCL operator and the applicable fees charged by the Complaints Investigator delegate associated with that client have been paid.

The CRTC can only enforce its rules in Canada. So, let's say a lawn care company hires a US or overseas telemarketing company that completely ignores the Do Not Call List. The CRTC can't go after the telemarketing company - how would they press charges outside Canada? The Commission forgot to add a rule explicitly requiring clients of telemarketers to register.

Those pesky lawn care companies or duct cleaners don't need to register - the CRTC requires the telemarketer to ensure that its client has registered. But the telemarketer is out of the country; why would they care? What is the Commission going to do?

Will the CRTC fix the holes in its decision that tries to make all of us who volunteer to make a few calls for schools and clubs pay $100 annual registration fees?

Who thought the gun registry was out of control?

Technorati Tags:
CRTC, DNCL

I was recently pointed to a speech last month by New York governor Eliot Spitzer to the New York State Farm Bureau Annual Meeting in Niagara Falls, where he launched a campaign for universal broadband service for all of NY.

When many of us think of NY, we think of one of the most densely populated parts of the planet. We think of advanced communications driving Wall Street, forgetting that there is a lot of territory upstate.

A drive from Buffalo to Albany can look similar to driving from Toronto to Sudbury - albeit with way fewer Tim Horton's locations and no Canadian Tire stores.

Governor Spitzer said that his state has inadequate infrastructure for the Information Age.

In fact, fewer than 25 percent of New Yorkers in rural areas have access to broadband Internet. Some may assume that because these areas are rural, they have natural and unavoidable disadvantages. But a rural landscape has not stopped Canada, a mostly rural country, from maintaining a broadband penetration rate of over 50 percent.

This problem does not only affect Upstate. Downstate doesn’t fare much better. Nearly two-thirds of people living in New York City lack access to affordable, high-speed broadband.

He blames the US federal government for a lack of leadership - the absence of a national broadband strategy.

So the governor has set his own objectives:

Our goals are—by the year 2015—for every citizen of New York to have access to at least 20 megabits per second in each direction, and 100 megabits per second in major metropolitan areas.

Despite Canada being cited as ahead of New York, will broadband be an issue in Canadian politics? How will we ensure that in 2015, Canada will still be seen as a leader by our neighbours?

Technorati Tags:
Eliot Spitzer, broadband

Apparently, some people with Rogers.com email addresses are not getting their mail. There has been a server outage since last night which results in mail getting bounced back to the sender.

Unfortunately, the mail isn't getting queued for later delivery, which is the normal situation.

Instead, senders are receiving:

This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification

Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:

username@rogers.com

Technical details of permanent failure:
PERM_FAILURE: SMTP Error (state 16): 554 delivery error: dd This user doesn't have a rogers.com account (username@rogers.com)

This is actually a serious problem. When bounce-backs like this are received, this kind of message results in people being dropped from subscriptions to any newsletters that they subscribe to.

I was told about this by a Rogers customer who called technical support and reached Jason, who knew about the trouble and said there was nothing he could about it. When the customer suggested that he should at least put an announcement about the trouble onto the 'on-hold' message, so that people don't have to wait listening to music for 11 minutes, he said that he couldn't do that.

The customer asked him to have his manager look into it. Jason said that he doesn't have a manager.

Attention Rogers: you have someone answering your technical support lines who has no manager. Sounds like a coup took place without notifying the stock markets.

Technorati Tags:
Rogers, email

In the Policy Direction issued to the CRTC in December 2006, the Commission was told that when regulating on a non-economic basis, to the greatest extent possible to use measures that are symmetric and competitively neutral.

Last July, the CRTC set out an action plan to comply with the Policy Direction. At that time, the Commission said that certain social regulatory measures, such as privacy safeguards, quality of service standards and rebates plan and a Consumer Bill of Rights would be prioritized following the establishment of the telecommunications consumer agency.

Well, the CCTS now exists and that means it is show-time for the CRTC to review its social and other non-economic regulatory measures for compliance with the Policy Direction.

Public Notice 2008-1 sets out the timetable for this review, with paper being exchanged through the month of February and an action plan to be developed and issued by the CRTC before the end of April. The objective of the exercise seems to be to determine which measures will be reviewed in 2008/2009 versus getting pushed out by a year to 2009/2010.

Technorati Tags:
CRTC, social regulation, Policy Direction

AT&T (NYSE: T) has announced that it will be providing free access to its 10,000 hot spots for subscribers to its residential broadband service.

Why would it do this?

In part, this move will drive an increased share of the residential broadband market, especially among households that have acquired one of AT&T's exclusive iPhones.

AT&T is leveraging parts of the company that are performing well - mobile wireless - together with its WiFi assets in order to help with its battle against those pesky cable companies.

A side benefit is that mobile users may off-load some of their most traffic intensive applications away from the mobile network and onto the WiFi hotspots. It will result in a better user experience and lower capital cost structure.

Increased customer counts; increased revenues; happier customers; lower costs. Call it better bundling.

Technorati Tags:
ATT, WiFi

Last month, I asked if we were witnessing the beginning of the end of utility based telcos when various media outlets began to report that Ottawa's electric utility is selling Telecom Ottawa. At the time, I asked if Ottawa Hydro's desire to focus on its core business was going to be something to watch in other jurisdictions?

Now, there is a news release from Toronto Hydro that it is seeking expressions of interest with respect to a possible sale of Toronto Hydro Telecom.

Again, I ask:

• Who will be the most likely bidders?
• To what extent would utelcos operate differently in major centres versus those markets with fewer competitive alternatives?

How should municipalities exercise political strategies through ownership of infrastructure versus strategic purchasing of services from private sector service providers?

Technorati Tags:
Toronto Hydro, broadband, policy, utelco

What is Teachers learning about their bid to take Bell private? [Note to all grammar students: since Teachers is a proper noun, "Teachers" is singular - referring to the pension plan, as opposed to the collection of teachers - lower case - that would be treated in the plural]

Two months ago, I wrote that the markets were doubting Bell's privatization would go through.

Talk about understatement.

At that time, Bell stock was trading at $39.40. Yesterday, it fell to 33 and change.

In November (when I decided to buy some - full disclosure), the yield was around 25%. Now, should the deal go through at the official offering price, the annualized yield will be over 100%.

The deal from Ontario Teachers Pension Plan is supposed to provide shareholders with $42.75 per share. There is likely another dividend to be received between now and closing, for a total of another 37.5 cents. Assuming the deal is finalized in April, each share is worth about $43 - nearly $10 more than yesterday's price, for a return of better than 30% in 3 months.

Bell issued a statement in December to try to calm the markets. Any updates?

Technorati Tags:
Bell

On Friday, the CRTC had a brief hearing to adjudicate a dispute between Videotron on Bell over inside wiring.

The history of dispute goes back to early 2006, when Bell filed an application requesting Videotron to discontinue its practice of requiring cable telephone customers to disconnect Bell's high-speed Internet services. The CRTC process was temporarily suspended while the parties tried to resolve the dispute through negotiations. A little over a year ago, in December 2006, the Commission was asked again to intervene.

About 10 months later, following a national consultation on whether a new network interface device should be installed into homes, the CRTC issued a decision last November, determining that it would not set a national policy mandating a standardized network interface device, because of a lack of evidence of its necessity.

Recognizing that Bell and Videotron were still unable to agree on disconnection processes for single family homes, the two parties presented their case to a panel of 3 commissioners on Friday. Fundamentally, the problem is that cable and telephone wires often enter the house in different places. From a cable company's perspective, whichever inside household telephone jack is closest to the cable modem will become the cable telephony network interface device, but first they have to disconnect the inside wire from its connection to Bell's network.

Bell appears to be concerned that it often has to roll a truck to reconnect service, if the customer wants to switch back or if the house is sold - it would obviously prefer to have that all done remotely.

When I read the Bell file and the Videotron file, as well as the two replies [Bell / Videotron], I am surprised that Bell is sticking with a request for Videotron to install the kind of network interface that the Commission already ruled wasn't needed as a matter of national policy. It would seem to be contrary to a general regulatory policy of technological neutrality.

I suspect this adjudication is going to be turned around pretty quickly. We'll watch for the Commission's ruling.

Technorati Tags:
CRTC, network interface, Bell, Videotron

Earlier this week, I did an interview with Shelagh Rogers of CBC Radio One that played Wednesday morning on her Sounds Like Canada programme, on the subject of cell phone towers.

I have written previously of the growing NIMBY sentiment that could impede community economic development. I was surprised that the head of a community business association in Chilliwack, BC has been campaigning against cell phone towers.

Perhaps I would be more sympathetic if her concerns were that cell phone towers are generally inconsistent with aesthetics in a heritage or even residential community. But here she was, the head of her community business association, arguing against any cell phone towers anywhere.

It wasn't good enough for her that Health Canada is comfortable with its studies - she cited asbestos as a precedent for the government getting it wrong.

I won't dispute anyone's right to believe in the potential for still undiscovered environmental impact from anything. For my part, I keep hoping scientists will confirm my belief in the therapeutic value of matjes herring. I was just surprised to see a leader of a business association promoting less advanced community infrastructure, in effect, a return to dark ages.

It isn't going to happen. Why?

Because cell phones save lives.

That is the sound bite that Canada's wireless industry needs to be getting out in front of the public, telling stories of mobile 911 calls; families being reassured; helping hands. Four simple words: cell phones save lives.

We want our doctors, our police, our families, our friends to be available when we call. Service providers compete to provide the best quality network - that kind of competition, complemented by frequent co-opetition (such as the Bell/TELUS network sharing), leads to better customer service. That means service providers need places to put base stations.

Still, I sense there is a palpable sentiment building up across the country, concerned about the aesthetics of towers and as yet unsubstantiated environmental health risks associated with wireless waves. With more service providers, more subscribers, more RFID-enabled devices, it is hard to imagine turning back the clock. But, there seems to be an emerging counter-movement, perhaps energized by other environmental sentiments.

That is why the wireless industry needs to get the message out front - cell phones save lives.

Municipalities are in competition with each other for jobs and tourist dollars. Which cities will prove to be the most creative and progressive in mediating concerns, while encouraging placement of wireless infrastructure, thereby improving their own competitive position?

Technorati Tags:
CBC, NIMBY, tower, environment, EMF

In its first major decision of the year, the CRTC has given the final go-ahead to roll out broadband to more than 350 rural communities across Canada. Decision 2008-1 takes $650M that had been accumulated in excess local fees paid to incumbent local carriers (ILECs) by subscribers in urban markets and uses the money to subsidize rural broadband service.

The Commission has given the ILEC telcos two months to confirm their ability to launch service by the end of 2011 - any remaining funds get returned to urban subscribers - presumably those who have remained with the ILECs, although the CRTC has asked for proposals on how the money can best be returned.

It is a lengthy read, aided by appendices with detailed listings of communities and service areas. The Commission recognized that various technologies, including unlicensed fixed wireless services, will provide quality broadband experiences for consumers.

The ILECs are also spending 5% - or around $30M - on enhancing telecom services for Canadians with disabilities, including some innovative enhancements to classic message relay services.

There will be more to emerge on this file

---

Update [January 18, 11:30 am]
Catherine McLean's story in the Globe suggests that about half the deferral account - around $300M - will be rebated to urban consumers.

Technorati Tags:
CRTC, rural broadband, ILEC

Alec Saunders has proposed an interesting form of civil disobedience to fight against system access fees - which he calls the 'drip feed for Canadian wireless carriers.'

He suggests that people should call the customer service lines for their service providers and just inquire about the system access fee.

It costs the carrier $25 to $30 per call to receive my call. Three or four calls per year asking about what that "system access fee" is on my statement will wipe out any profits they make from nickeling and diming me. It's a little subversive, but it's just the sort of thing that appeals to the Canadian in me. And perhaps if enough people did the same, the bean counting MBAs who work in product management at Canadian carriers would see the logic of discontinuing this practice.

Will Alec's suggestion start a national grassroots campaign? We saw the potential rallying power of influential bloggers when Michael Geist triggered his Copyright Canada campaign.

Wireless service providers should start watching their call centre numbers.

Otherwise, consumers should be aware that not all wireless service providers charge the system access fees. Check out the pay as you go plans at some of the independent retailers like 7-11 or Virgin Mobile. You have a choice, and more choice is likely on the way this spring.

Technorati Tags:
system access fees, Alec Saunders

Michael Binder has been named the interim head of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC).

Something about telecom policy folks, Alberta, and energy commissions lately. It was just a few weeks ago that Willie Grieve from TELUS was named the head of the Alberta Utilities Commission and now Michael is going to bring to bear his doctorate in Physics (from U of Alberta) and a career in public service to help out the embattled CNSC.

I can attest to the strong work ethic that he brings to the job. Most of the emails that I have received from him are time stamped late at night - he has always made a point of replying. Michael has earned the respect of the his peers in the global community of telecom policy agencies.

Michael has been a source of support since our first event in 2002 - he encouraged us to make The Canadian Telecom Summit into the country's premiere industry gathering.

There is no doubt that he will bring tremendous strengths to his interim assignment leading CNSC. Still, all of us who have been privileged to work with Michael Binder through the past 20 years of dynamic changes in Canadian telecom policy will miss him.

Best of luck!

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CNSC, Michael Binder

We have been pulling together a panel for The 2008 Canadian Telecom Summit that will be looking at Net Neutrality, so I have paid closer attention to emails crossing my screen on that subject.

I took special interest last week when I was pointed to a paper by University of Minnesota academic Andrew Odlyzko. For a paper that comes out of an academic institution, I am disappointed that it is insufficiently rooted in fact-based research. Certain assertions jump from the page that I have trouble accepting at face value. For instance,

Contrary to many claims of opponents of net neutrality, networks are not very expensive to build, and some simple calculations suggest that a net neutral communications infrastructure could be viable economically.

If this assertion is true, then why are there so few facilities based market participants?

Still, the paper provides an interesting canvassing of the issues that may help provide food for thought.

We have now confirmed that Professor Andrew Clement from the Faculty of Information Studies at University of Toronto will be joining our special session at The 2008 Canadian Telecom Summit, looking at Net Neutrality.

Technorati Tags:
Canadian Telecom Summit, net neutrality

Comments in response to Industry Canada's consultation on amendments to PIPEDA, Canada's privacy act, are due today. Included in the consultation is an intent to clarify 'lawful authority' in accessing information.

I couldn't help but smile when I read a story last Thursday about FBI wiretaps south of the border. It seems phone companies have cut off FBI wiretaps because the bureau seems to have trouble paying its bills on time.

Law enforcement agencies can have all the authority in the world, but like everyone else, you gotta pay on time.

Technorati Tags:
FBI, lawful access, PIPEDA

Our family has had a number of interactions with the health care systems in Ontario and Quebec over the past month. The quality of care has generally been great, but if phone companies were run like these hospitals, they would be out of business.

Paper records. New ID cards issued each time you go. Long line-ups at each stage. Wait times to even get scheduled. Digital records that can't be sent electronically because no secure network exists.

I'm not talking about remote areas of the provinces. This is the experience we put up with in major hospitals in Toronto and Montreal.

In some ways, the situation almost reminds me of phone companies, in those days before competition. Except that we had a regulator that made sure that customer service standards were more tolerable.

Talk about an industry that is long overdue for efficiency improvements. What can the telecom industry do to help deliver better health care service at lower cost?

Technorati Tags:
health

Will capital markets support the aspirations of new wireless telecom service providers?

Frontline Wireless, a start-up in the US with an innovative plan to build a network for private and local public safety agencies, collapsed because it was unable to raise enough money to bid in this month's upcoming FCC auction of spectrum. Frontline was started by former FCC chair Reed Hundt and it had an impressive set of early venture backers. According to a New York Times article, it was a matter of sourcing funding.

Acquiring spectrum is one thing. A new entrant still has to build out a network and establish itself in the market. An analyst quoted by the Times article suggests investors are wary of backing start-ups that will have to compete with the established giant wireless carriers.

The Canadian auction rules require that potential bidders submit irrevocable standby letters of credit for substantial amounts of money with their applications on March 3.

The capital markets have changed significantly over the past 6 months on both sides of the border. What will be the impact on Canadian firms seeking financing of their business plans for the AWS spectrum auction?

Technorati Tags:
spectrum, AWS, Frontline

Light Reading has a report on the keynote delivered by Brian Roberts, Comcast's Chair and CEO, at the Consumer Electronics Show.

The address spoke about Project Infinity, an initiative that will rollout more than 1000 HD choices to consumers by the end of the year.

The article says this is a response to Verizon's fibre to the home. How will other telcos respond to cable TV powering multi-set HD devices in a household?

Is there an alternative to Verizon's architecture of building FTTH?

Technorati Tags:
cable, HDTV, Comcast, Verizon, FTTH

A report out of CES says that the FCC is planning to investigate Comcast's practice of managing Bit Torrent traffic. The article says that groups asked the FCC to levy heavy fines against Comcast: $195,000 for every affected subscriber.

Is it fair game to manage all torrent traffic equally?

A special session at The 2008 Canadian Telecom Summit will examine Net Neutrality from all angles.

Technorati Tags:
Comcast, FCC, BitTorrent, net neutrality

Late in December, I wrote about Yak filing applications with the CRTC to "protect Canadians against consumer gouging", referring to a new network access charge being levied by TELUS to customers who had no long distance plan.

The CRTC had received 600 consumer complaints about the charge and so it had started its own investigation. TELUS responded to initial CRTC interrogatories in late November although I found at least one of the answers somewhat tough to decipher.

It is still unclear to me if a consumer can use casual calling (101XXXX+) if they are forced to sign up for toll blocking in order to avoid being hit with the TELUS network charge.

The two processes were blended into a single Type 2 proceeding, one that is expected to involve multiple parties or raise significant policy issues. The charge is yet another example of a "system access fee".

Under the CRTC's guidelines for such proceedings, we may not have a decision until September, 2008.

The CRTC could rule the charge to be illegal and force a refund. As such, will there be a potential liability growing on the books?

Technorati Tags:
Yak, TELUS, system access fee

Before the holidays, an ITAC study reported that 95% of Canadians still turn to traditional media for their trusted general news reporting, despite two thirds of households having broadband internet connections.

More than 80% still rely of conventional media for breaking news.

The study found that only 11.5% believe that online media is unbiased, and 12% believe that online media is accurate. (The news release didn't report on the trustworthiness of traditional media.)

We will be exploring new media content on a couple panels at The 2008 Canadian Telecom Summit: Consumers in a Multi-screen World and Content & Entertainment over Broadband.

Technorati Tags:
ITAC, Canadian Telecom Summit

How many people bought new HDTVs over the holidays and are now signing up for new packages from their cable companies and satellite service providers? Renting or buying new HDTV set top boxes, PVRs and signing up for enhanced programming packages?

A lot, I'll bet, generating lots of new revenues for broadcast distributors.

Otherwise, there are a lot of distorted images coming across their screens - short, fat hockey players according to one of the TV commercials.

Many of those new TVs have sophisticated tuners, picture-in-picture and timing capabilities that go completely to waste because there is currently no standard way for manufacturers to build an integrated digital tuner for the cable industry.

Well, today, ahead of a speech at the Consumer Electronics Show, and ahead of FCC intervention, Comcast is announcing that there will be an industry standardization initiative, tru2way, to enable open development of new services and features that rely on two-way communication over the cable network.

Comcast plans to roll out the new platform to all of its markets later this year and Time Warner cable is said to be ahead of Comcast. Panasonic plans to announce a compatible Viera plasma HDTV set this year.

Is there any activity on this front in Canada? Is it even on the regulatory radar screen?

Technorati Tags:
cable, set top box

Call it one small step toward unifying broadcasting and telecommunications at the CRTC; the Commission plans to unify its numbering and nomenclature over the coming year, to take effect January 1, 2009.

In 2000 and 2001, the CRTC had an integrated numbering for Public Notices and Decisions. You can find an apologetic comment on its website for the irregular sequence of numbers if you look at some of the listings of PN's from those dates.

This will be different, we are told, as part of an effort to provide greater consistency in the documents issued from both sides of the CRTC.

Perhaps a first step on the long road toward a unified Communications Act and Department of Communications?

Technorati Tags:
CRTC, broadcast, telecom

One of the very first blog posts I wrote, about 20 months ago, was about Toronto ICT plans. At the time, Toronto ranked third in North America, behind New York and San Francisco, as an ICT centre, and the city was trying to find ways to move up.

Now, I read in the Toronto Star that Toronto might actually prefer to to go to the dark ages.

The Star article says:

In a report that goes to city council's planning and growth management committee next week, staff recommend new installations should undergo city review and be subject to public consultation in order to minimize the number of new towers in Toronto.

In April 2006, I wrote:

Want a good start to stimulate ICT? How about declaring the GTA to be a 'telecom friendly free-trade zone'? If carriers want access to upgrade facilities, why not welcome them with the same gusto that Toronto has for the movie industry? It seems to me that movie production trucks are a bigger source of traffic tie-ups than fibre-optic construction, but no one (including me) would complain about them disrupting the movement of cars. Let's be as positive about new telecom infrastructure.

You can't be a world class ICT centre without world class telecommunications infrastructure. That means an objective should be to carpet the city with fibre optic filaments; welcoming investment to put five bars of coverage on every cell phone everywhere in the city. That should be the way the report should start.

Why wouldn't the city report suggest working with carriers to find ways to share existing municipal physical plant? The idea could be to maximize opportunities for telecom investment - perhaps even generating revenue for the city.

None of us want unnecessary eyesores in neighbourhoods or introduce risks for kids. But does the city report look at sharing police or fire radio towers? What about municipal utility sites?

I'd like to see how the new city report gets reconciled with the one looking for improving ICT leadership.

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University of Waterloo is establishing a dorm to be a place where some of its "most talented, entrepreneurial, creative and technologically savvy students will be united under one roof to work on the future of mobile communications, web and new media."

VeloCity is no ordinary student residence.

As the University Bulletin attributes to project leader Sean van Koughnett:

I thought about the many great success stories in the web, mobile communications and new media arena that originated in the minds of students, and I thought, this is absolutely the perfect time and place for something like VeloCity!

Waterloo has been talking to the major players and local companies in telecommunications, media and mobile communications and the MMNP project team expects to be making specific announcements shortly about corporate partnerships.

Applications for VeloCity will be taken later this month.

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