As part of its support for the development of a National Digital Strategy, TELUS has released a paper, called “Leaping Forward – Wireless Broadband and a National Digital Strategy.”
According to the paper, now that Canada has built an ubiquitous broadband infrastructure, the question of how to leverage these networks and development of a broadband economy be part of a larger digital industrial strategy:
That industrial strategy for Canada would include:
- incentives for continued investment
- policies that promote consumer access and choice; and
- ensuring that application providers, software developers and content creators across the value chain can reach markets.
Telus expands with its own Top 10 list of principles to guide the discussion and debate in developing the national digital strategy:
- Canada needs to trust the market to build our broadband future
- Government can find smart ways to support a digital media strategy without large expenditures funded by taxpayer dollars
- Spectrum auctions should be fair and open to ensure to ensure that the $2 billion dollar overpayments in the last AWS auction are not repeated again
- Canada and the world are our markets; we cannot be inward looking
- Digital content is not limited to narratives/stories but is also software and applications that enable the creation, distribution and sharing of content online
- Governments are ill equipped to shape new media or to sustain markets that donโt exist, but government can stimulate investment and innovation
- Canadians must have the opportunities to access, communicate, interact, create and transact over open broadband networks
- Copyright is not an absolute; it must be balanced against fair use
- Intellectual property is the currency of an information economy just as much as access to broadband is a prerequisite to participation
- The consumer and public are already shaping markets and we need to follow their direction to succeed
Each of these points are fleshed out in greater detail in the paper – see below.
Many of these themes have been discussed by Telus before, such as in the context of its Petition to the Governor in Council from last March. A ruling on a series of cabinet appeals is expected later this week.
Leaping Forward-Wireless Broadband and a National Digital Strategy FINAL http://d1.scribdassets.com/ScribdViewer.swf?document_id=23376655&access_key=key-eo0fzs9dtqop8q5cy4i&page=1&version=1&viewMode=list