TELUS has launched Internet for Good, providing low-cost internet to low income single-parent families in British Columbia. The pilot program targets households on income or disability assistance from the province.

In the coming weeks, about 18,000 single-parent families in BC will receive a coupon code in the mail that will allow them to activate internet service for $9.95 a month, with speeds of up to 25 megabits per second, with 300 GB of data. This pilot program is funded entirely by TELUS, at no cost to the government or to taxpayers.

Program participants will have access to TELUS WISE, an initiative launched just over 3 years ago to educate Canadians about Internet safety, equipping families with tools to have conversations with their children about online and smartphone safety.

TELUS is collaborating with BC Technology for Learning Society and Decoda Literacy so that families who participate in the program are equipped to access the wealth of internet resources. Through the BC Technology for Learning Society, families who cannot afford a computer will have the opportunity to purchase a refurbished desktop computer or laptop at a greatly reduced rate, and Decoda Literacy will help interested program participants enhance their digital literacy skills.

Internet for Good is a complete package: dramatic price savings on broadband internet access; low cost devices; and, training on how to make use of the internet, including safety.

As my frequent readers know, more than half of Canadian households with incomes below $30,000 don’t have home internet. Of these, 44 per cent cite cost, lack of a connected device and digital illiteracy as the barriers to their connectivity. Internet for Good joins Rogers’ Connected for Success program in trying to encourage increased adoption among disadvantaged households.

TELUS is currently working with the Alberta government, intending to expand Internet for Good before the end of the year. To get more information about Internet for Good, including details about how to qualify for the pilot program, the TELUS website has additional details.

Among the challenges for developing offers to target low income households is how to identify them. That is why Rogers launched its program for residents Toronto Community Housing, and recently expanded it to Rogers entire cable foot print in Ontario, New Brunswick and Newfoundland & Labrador, for any household living in rent-geared-to-income non-profit housing. In the case of TELUS Internet for Good, the Government of British Columbia is sending a mail-out to eligible single parents on income or disability assistance informing them about the pilot program; no personal information has been shared with TELUS.

Hopefully, other carriers will continue to develop similar programs to increase adoption in low income households across the country, one province at a time.

If only we had a national digital strategy.

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[Update: November 24, 2016] TELUS has now launched Internet for Good in Alberta as well, targeting approximately 15,000 single parent families who receive financial support through the Alberta Works Income Support and Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped programs. Like the BC program, this pilot is entirely funded by TELUS and comes at no cost to taxpayers or the government.

Participants will have access to up to 25 Mbps download speeds and 350GB of data per month. Through Alberta Computers for Schools (ACFS), families who cannot afford a computer will be able to purchase a low-cost refurbished desktop or laptop computer. Since 2013, ACFS has helped place 23,500 refurbished computers into schools and non-profit organizations across Alberta including close to 3,000 devices provided by TELUS. TELUS is partnering with the Alberta Library for free digital literacy resources, such as online learning programs, are made available to pilot participants.

These programs are an industry led solution to fill a significant gap in public policy. It is gratifying to see. As TELUS CEO Darren Entwistle said in his remarks in Edmonton launching the Alberta program, we have a moral obligation to find a solution to get broadband to disadvantaged households.

Last month, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) requested public comments to “inform the development of a National Broadband Research Agenda” for the United States [Formal Notice in Federal Register].

This Agenda will reflect the most significant opportunities for data collection, analysis, and research to keep pace with, and take advantage of, the massive digital changes that permeate our economy and society.

In its comments, the US Telecom Association (USTelecom) observed “33 million households (27 percent of all U.S. households) did not use the internet at
home and 26 million households—one-fifth of all households—were offline entirely, lacking a single member who used the internet from any location in 2015.”

USTelecom says “Understanding the factors that contribute to the broadband adoption gap is the key to helping close the digital divide.”

In particular, USTelecom suggests the National Broadband Research Agenda explore which types of programs to increase broadband adoption have been successful and why, as well as how such programs can be evaluated to determine effectiveness? In addition, USTelecom says further research is needed to explore methodologies used to identify non-adopters.

USTelecom asks NTIA to examine the types of initiatives that might help address the relevancy issue for those households that claim no interest or no need for internet connectivity. It also suggests that research is required to explore the role government can or should play in supporting effective broadband adoption programs?

Canada has similar needs for serious research into why people don’t subscribe to broadband. Billions of tax dollars have been spent (and hundreds of millions more are planned to be spent) to subsidize rural broadband, with virtually no government attention to low adoption among low income households. To what extent is there a need for enhanced digital literacy and is there a role for government in that effort?

The comments from all of the parties can be found on the NTIA website.

As Canada invests in its Innovation Agenda, there is a gap in understanding why nearly 1 in 6 Canadian households has no broadband connection. There is an opportunity for better understanding to emerge from a Canadian broadband research plan.

Fourteen years ago, I wrote a little piece called “From Intelligent to Irrelevant Networks,” which looked at how transport networks had universally delivered high quality, making the choice of long haul connectivity provider largely irrelevant; the most important distinction among service providers was among access providers.

How then would national and global carriers establish differentiation?

A new report from Citi Global Perspectives and Solutions was released last week, “Re-Birth Of Telecoms into a New Digital Industry: Time to Dump the Dumb Pipe” [pdf, 6.3MB].

While telecom operators have seen minimal industry growth of just 0%–3% in the past few years, sectors that use their networks such as Internet Services are seeing growth at rates at least six times higher.

So what’s a telecom operator to do? We believe they have two choices: (1) they can streamline their business and continue providing the ‘dumb pipe’ to the digital ecosystem, or (2) they can embark on a digital transformation.

In the report that follows, we investigate what a digital transformation would entail, how the future post-telecom era digital connectivity industry may shape up, and what it may mean for telecom investors.

The report is a good read for service providers and policy makers alike.

We have already started work on The 2017 Canadian Telecom Summit, taking place next year from June 5-7 in Toronto. Our theme for 2017 will be: “Competition, Investment and Innovation: Driving Canada’s Digital Future” and we will also be recognizing 25 years of communications competition in Canada.

A colleague suggested that it might be interesting to highlight ways that innovations originating in the communications sector have made a positive impact on our daily lives. So I have been going through various archives to research some of the inventions that have come out of the labs of service providers and suppliers. Starting November 1, my Twitter feed will highlight one each day leading up to the conference, with a #CTS17 hashtag.

I will also collect them in Storify. As I was pulling together some of the innovations, I noticed that there were major anniversaries or milestones in the past few weeks, such as last week’s 60th anniversary of the first trans-Atlantic call over the TAT-1 submarine cable:

and the 20th anniversary of the release of RIM’s Inter@ctive Pager 900:

Today happens to be the 150th birthday of Canadian inventor Reginald Fessenden, a pioneer of radio communications. So, the Storify board is already open and I will try to keep it updated as I post the daily innovations beginning November 1.

I welcome your suggestions on items to post over the next few months.

In addition, if you would like to get involved as a sponsor or speaker for The 2017 Canadian Telecom Summit, please reach out to me as well. Registrations for next year’s event will open November 1, when we launch the new website. In the meantime, please mark the dates in your calendar: June 5-7, 2017 in Toronto.

I look forward to seeing you there.

Sunday evening marks the start of Rosh Hashana, the beginning of the Jewish calendar year 5777. Our offices will be closed on Monday and Tuesday.

Rosh Hashana [literally, the “head” of the year], starts a 10 day period of personal reflection. It is very different from the kind of celebrations and partying that mark the transition from December 31 to January 1. The stentorian blast of a shofar [ram’s horn] triggers a period of personal and communal introspection, challenging us to examine the deeds of the past year while looking forward to improvement in the year ahead.

On the virtual pages of this blog, and in my Twitter feed, my intent has always been to explore issues from a different perspective than you might find in the traditional media, challenging you, the reader, to consider alternate points of view in order to continue to build a sustainable communications infrastructure for Canada to be a leader in a globally competitive digital economy.

The year ahead will bring continued changes to Canada’s communications sector, with more innovation, further investment in new technologies, and expanding the capacity and reach of broadband services, giving us much to discuss at The 2017 Canadian Telecom Summit (June 5-7).

It is my hope that the year 5777 will be marked by good health, by personal and professional growth and may it also be a year of peace for all of us.

שנה טובה ומתוקה