In the midst of an election, one might ask to what end should our government continue to invest time and effort in development of telecom policy?
What is left to deal with?
At one time, there were a number of critical economic issues tied to Canada’s telecom industry: the sector represented the core of Canada’s industrial R&D; investment; the focus on introducing competition in the development of electronic infrastructure – wireline and wireless, narrowband and broadband; international competitiveness; e-commerce; telemedicine; distance learning; etc.
How have the priority of these policy factors been diminished?
With all of the changes at Nortel in recent days (and over the past few years), Canada continues to risk more jobs being lost to overseas competition. More than 3 years ago, then CEO Bill Owens recognized the threat being posed by the market entry of Chinese suppliers, ZTE and Huawei. Did Nortel and Canadian industrial policy respond appropriately?
In respect of access to broadband infrastructure, there continue to be a number of gaps, as I wrote on Monday: based on geography – the rural and urban digital divide; based on education; based on income; based on age. A policy to improve connectedness must address all of these factors. How boldly will our next government address these factors?
I sometimes wonder if too many people focus on artificial international rankings of connectivity, without considering that connectivity is only part of a pathway, not an end itself.
Connectivity is one of the factors that enables economic renewal – it does not create jobs by itself; connectivity enables strategies that contribute to a reduced carbon footprint – it does not improve greenhouse gas emissions by itself; connectivity enables programs for more cost effective delivery of education, health care and other government programs – but these programs require far more effort than deployment of connectivity.
What kind of focus will the next government place on delivery of Canada’s electronic future? How high will telecom policy rank within the priorities for the next Minister of Industry?