Dissident subgroups are appearing within two industry lobbying associations.
Over the past few days, we have seen Mobilicity and Wind Mobile take contrary positions to that of the CWTA in response to Manitoba’s examination of increased consumer protection rules for mobile contracts.
It is difficult to build a consensus opinion for any association consisting of market competitors. However, there is a marked difference in the expression of the dissenting viewpoints. Wind Mobile took aim at its competitors, as might be expected, talking about “The Big Three.” On the other hand, Mobilicity’s press release targets the association itself, mentioing “CWTA” 6 times in the first 4 paragraphs.
Last fall, we saw the emergence of the Canadian Network Operators Consortium (CNOC), which appears to have a membership with considerable overlap with the Canadian Association of Internet Providers (CAIP). The challenge for these organizations is to find sufficient common ground to justify a united front, recognizing the varying business interests of the membership.
In such groups, is unanimous agreement required or can a majority vote determine whether the association attaches its seal to a position? Where unanimity is not possible, should the association stand down and have members respond on their own?
CWTA President Bernard Lord will be a keynote speaker at The 2011 Canadian Telecom Summit, opening May 31 in Toronto. Early Bird rates are in effect through February 28. Have you registered yet?