Month: April 2007

In co–operation with the IBM Institute for Business Value, The Economist Intelligence Unit has released its e-readiness rankings for 2007.

Canada, now ranked 13th [from number 9 last year], slipped out of the top 10,

owing to a slightly reduced social and cultural environment score, and a lower rating for government policy and vision than other developed-market peers.

Unfortunately, ranking schema will always be marked by biases created by weightings and priorities assigned by their authors to various criteria. For example, in 2007, this study

eliminated fixed-line phones as an indicator and increased the weight of mobile penetration, as mobile phones are generally cheaper, easier to access and, with text messaging and mobile commerce applications, increasingly powerful digital devices.

At first glance, such a shift may seem innocuous but it is based on European pricing practices and therefore may discriminate against historically low pricing for wireline services in North America. Further, as we have discussed previously, European wireless penetration rates are artificially pumped up by users with multiple SIM cards arbitraging roaming rates or gaming ‘on-net’ calling plans.

There are bright spots for Canada in the report. Thanks to “political stability, a positive foreign investment environment and strong support for private enterprise and competition,” Canada is ranked as the world’s best business environment. In addition, Canada’s legal environment for internet issues is ranked in the top 5. The four factors assessed in this area are:

laws must sufficiently protect consumer rights and intellectual property rights (IPR) offline and online; they must foster the development of digital security enablers such as authentication and certification of online transactions; they must not censor; and, they must allow new businesses to be registered quickly and easily.

It is a new category, called “Government Policy and Vision” that led to Canada falling out of the top 10. The category is actually more of ranking of government leadership – tied to performance and adoption of new technologies by departments other than those we traditionally expect to lead the development of internet and e-commerce policy.

E-ready governments supply their constituents—citizens and organisations—with a clear roadmap for the adoption of technology, and they lead by example in their use of technology to create efficiencies. The Economist Intelligence Unit has created this new category to assess the activities of governments in this area, and their ability to lead their countries towards a digital future. Are governments employing technology to operate and provide public services with less resource investment? Are they spending on ICT to stimulate similar spending in the greater economy? Are “savings” translated into service gains for citizens? Can more people interact with, and receive information from, the government regardless of their own access to technology?

Public Works, CRA, and other agencies will all contribute to improving performance on criteria such as total government spend on ICT as a proportion of GDP; digital development strategy; egovernment strategy; online procurement.

Thanks to a regular reader for pointing me to Om Malik‘s reference to this report.

Technorati Tags:
e-readiness, Economist, IBM, broadband

The CRTC is going to issue its decision on the 3rd Price Cap period, today at 4pm. There is a ‘lock-up’ being offered to allow people to get an advance look at the Decision. I am not joining the lock-up so you’ll have to wait until later this evening to catch my initial impressions.

Price caps have been in place for the past 10 years and allow incumbents limited pricing flexibility within a ‘basket’ of products. The ceiling or ‘cap’ in changes to the price of the services basket is adjusted each year by a factor of inflation less productivity gains and other adjustments. In the case of many services, the cap should have led to price declines because productivity exceeded inflation.

Over the past 10 years, rather than having prices drop, the CRTC had ordered incumbents to put the excess revenues into a fund known as the deferral account. It is expected that the CRTC will make the deferral account a historical artifact with today’s Price Cap decision.

We’re also going to watch for rulings on rate de-averaging and the duration (eg. 3 years, 5 years?) of this next price cap regime, among other issues.

Watch this space later today for updates.

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Update: [April 30, 4:25 pm]
The Decision is out. Highlights:

• basic residential rates in urban areas are capped at existing levels (a price ceiling);
• basic residential service rates in rural areas are permitted to increase by up to 5% annually;
• local optional service and bundled service rates are no longer subject to pricing constraints;
• telcos are able to de-average rates local residential and optional local services;
• business and other capped service rate increases are limited to the rate of inflation overall and a maximum increase of 10% per year for individual rates;
• pay telephone service rates are permitted to increase to $0.50 per cash call, and $1.00 per non-cash call; and
• rates for public safety and social services (e.g. 9-1-1 service, Message Relay Service) remain frozen.

The Commission’s policy is to move rates closer to costs. The new regime allows telephone companies to raise basic local prices in rural areas by the lesser of the annual rate of inflation or 5 per cent.

Once again on a major decision, Commissioner Langford has dissented from the majority. In his opinion, there are consumers left vulnerable by the new regime. He offers an alternative, which was rejected by his colleagues.

In its quest for administrative efficiency, the majority appears to have abandoned its responsibilities to balance the interests of all stakeholders: customers, competitors and incumbent telephone companies.

Technorati Tags:
CRTC, price caps, deferral account

Lest you think that local phone competition is only found in Canada’s biggest cities, it is interesting to check out the number of applications for forbearance that have been filed by Bell Aliant.

In Nova Scotia: Amherst, Windsor, Lunenburg, New Glasgow, Antigonish, Sydney, Barrington, Digby, Yarmouth. In PEI: O’Leary, Summerside, Georgetown. In New Brunswick, Sackville complements more expected communities like Moncton, Saint John and Fredericton. The larger cities in NS and PEI, Halifax and Charlottetown, have also been the subject of applications.

How will forbearance impact consumers? What changes are in store for customers who don’t want to switch? Are the phone companies and their competitors as ready as consumers?

All of these questions will be subjects of discussion at The 2007 Canadian Telecom Summit, June 11-13.

Technorati Tags:
CRTC, Bell Aliant, local forbearance, Canadian Telecom Summit

The 2007 Canadian Telecom Summit has added another reception to its schedule, increasing the opportunities to network with the leaders of the industry. To celebrate the launch of newly merged Nokia Siemens Networks, the company is hosting a reception at the end of the day on Tuesday June 12.

The reception will provide an opportunity for conference delegates to meet Simon Beresford-Wylie, the CEO of the global organization.

The Canadian Telecom Summit is Canada’s pre-eminent gathering of the telecommunications industry. Attracting the senior-most professionals from around the globe, the event provides a forum for stakeholders to exchange views, share ideas, challenge assumptions and plan for the future.

Registrations are running well ahead of the pace of previous years. At the The Canadian Telecom Summit, plan to make the most of your time. Meeting space is available in a number of board rooms that can be booked by the hour in the PwC Business Centre. More informal meetings can be over a coffee or espresso at the Solace Systems cafe.

How do you meet? Special interest breakout sessions on Monday June 11 cover a range of topics. Three days of breakfasts, coffee breaks, lunches. Receptions on Monday and Tuesday evening. 21 Keynote speakers; panels with 50 industry leaders.

On June 11-13, 2007, the industry will be at The Canadian Telecom Summit. Will you be there too?

Technorati Tags:
Nokia Siemens Networks, Canadian Telecom Summit