Twenty years ago today, the CRTC public hearing opened to review the application by Unitel to create competition in the Canadian long distance telecommunications market. The hearing ran for months and it followed a lengthy exchange of paper and a year of preliminary processes. This was the oral phase of the proceeding that led to Telecom Decision CRTC 92-12. I was part of the opening panel of witnesses, defending our network interconnection plan.
It was a remarkable time in my career and I was privileged to work with a team of dedicated young professionals who helped prepare the winning case. We continue to stay in touch, albeit too infrequently.
Unitel hasn’t existed as a brand for a long time, but what we did 20 years ago continues to be felt. Does anyone wait until 11pm to make a long distance call any more? That is what we did when we were students. Twenty years ago, calls after 11 became affordable for students, as long as the call was kept to the bare essentials – like “exams are fine, I’ll be done on the 18th I need money, love you, bye.”
Twenty years ago, overseas calls cost a tank of gas so you would save that for family emergencies. Nowadays, you can talk to much of the world for 20 minutes for less than the cost of a cup of coffee. I’m going to guess that most of my readers don’t think twice about picking up the phone to call anyone, anywhere, or at anytime. You’re welcome.
Twenty years ago, I faced a week of cross examination from lawyers who were unable to poke holes in our network plan. As a regulatory novice, I remember the shock of seeing our lawyer talking with Bell’s lawyer during the first coffee break at the hearings; I was surprised that these enemies on the battlefield could be so civil with each other. Through the years, I have had the opportunity to work with lawyers and executives from both sides of our original long distance battle. Like Sam and Ralph from Looney Tunes, the ability to do battle while remaining collegial and respectful has been one of the key attributes of the regulatory blockbuster at The Canadian Telecom Summit.
At the time, the Financial Post observed the youth of our team. I feel good to have been part of that group. There are a lot of stories from those days. I remember being called back to Ottawa at the last minute to help with witness preparation for Canadian Pacific CEO Bill Stinson and Rogers chief Ted Rogers. Early Monday morning, I found that in my rush to pack, I forgot to pack a dress shirt, so I borrowed one with a neck size so big that we folded and stapled the back of the neck. I happened to make mention of my kids on the transcripts when describing how Unitel’s long distance wouldn’t impact 9-1-1 service and that has been a little challenge and inside joke ever since.
Our offices will be closed for the first part of next week so that I can spend time with the family who are all home for Passover so there will be no blog posts until next Thursday.