Slide 1 Notes:
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This year, the international telecommunications arena is going through the kind of upheaval that we have saw in the domestic industry in Canada three years ago. We are in the middle of a transition year for Teleglobe – facing resale-based competition now and facilities based entry in the fall. We have government owned monopolies being privatized and being exposed to competition all around the world. How can Canadian companies benefit and profit from these changes?
We’ll also look at the cost of protecting Teleglobe for these past 10 years. There have been some huge losses for many sectors of the Canadian economy as a result of protecting Teleglobe’s monopoly. In return for this cost, we have produced a top 20 international carrier. That ranking somewhat belies the true scale of Teleglobe on the world stage since we have kept Teleglobe out of the US cross border business in the past. Comparing apples and oranges, Teleglobe is one of the 10 largest international carriers. The 10:30 session has a panel of distinguished experts talking about opening the US for Teleglobe, and can our carriers compete in the world. I hope to stimulate some questions for you to raise with Peter Grant, Meriel Bradford and Robert Tritt.
I will also take a look at some of the technologies that are helping to make international telecommunications more affordable. Some of these capabilities are real cost savers, or agents of cost arbitrage, others are enablers of what I call regulatory arbitrage.
We’ll then take a look at how you, too, can profit from changes in the international scene. It’s an area with big costs, but there are still big margins for those who can finesse their way around the world. The game of International Telecommunications is much more like golf than like boxing. There will be money made by the battle of the heavyweights, slugging it out, but there are so many opportunities for us normal sized weaklings who learn the art of the game, not just the slugging. The CFO of one of my New York clients, which is about a third the size of Teleglobe, likes to say that he loves reading about new carriers joining the major alliances. I’ll fill you in on why a little bit later.
Finally, we’ll look at the implications of what is being called Total Services Competition by one of my Canadian clients. After lunch today, Bob Pachal will be talking about the May Day decisions from last year that opened Canada not only to local services competition, but in fact competition on all fronts: local, broadcast, long distance and then a week later we had the first of the international liberalization decisions. I would be remiss if I didn’t take a few minutes to comment on this scene as well.