A few months ago, Videotron launched a mobile audio streaming service known as “Unlimited Music“:

Listen to music as often as you like, without ever worrying about your data usage.

The Unlimited Music service currently provides un-metered access to Spotify, Rdio, Google Play Music, Songza, Deezer, 8tracks, Groove and Stingray Music, with a plan to add other audio applications. The service is available at no additional charge to Videotron mobile customers who have an LTE SIM and subscribe to an “All-inclusive Canada-wide plan” with 2GB, 4GB or 6GB of data.

Last month, a number of parties, including the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, filed a complaint to the CRTC, claiming that the service contravenes Section 27(2) of the Telecommunications Act, violates net neutrality rules (the CRTC’s 2009 Internet Traffic Management Practices – ITMP – Framework), and the CRTC’s “Mobile TV” decision, because it exempts certain subscribers from paying fees for certain types of data.

Section 27(2) forbids carriers from unjustly discriminating or giving an undue or unreasonable preference toward any person, including itself, or subjecting any party to an undue or unreasonable disadvantage, in relation to the provision of a telecommunications service. PIAC had claimed that Videotron is subjecting subscribers who consume other audiovisual content that is
unaffiliated with “Unlimited Music” service to data charges, which has the effect of imposing an undue and unreasonable disadvantage to those subscribers and their streaming services.

Today, Rogers threw its support behind PIAC, claiming that Rogers is among the groups being subjected to a disadvantage. Rogers says that it has conformed to the CRTC’s Mobile TV ruling and it is at a competitive disadvantage if Videotron doesn’t play by the same rules. Further, Rogers argues that its radio stations are providing streaming services that are being subjected a disadvantage because their listeners continue to pay data charges.

The decision to favour certain types of audio services carried on its wireless network and to treat the data from those services differently than the data of other audio and audiovisual services, and online services in general, represents “the thin edge of the wedge” in ensuring the integrity of Canada’s net neutrality rules.

By acting as a gatekeeper and selecting which audio services receive special zero-rated data usage treatment on its wireless network, Videotron has conferred upon consumers of these services, as well as upon the five audio streaming services that make up Unlimited Music, an undue and unreasonable preference. At the same time, Videotron has subjected their customers who subscribe to other audio content services, these other audio services and wireless competitors to an undue and unreasonable disadvantage.

Rogers support of PIAC on this file is an interesting development, but it may be motivated by wanting to be sure that it can continue to monetize data usage from streaming services. In an interview with the Globe and Mail last month, Rogers CEO Guy Laurence said that he wants to encourage wireless customers to use more mobile data. “Guy Laurence said Monday that he didn’t even consider offering unlimited data usage for Spotify Premium … because the whole point was to encourage subscribers to get comfortable with using more mobile data.”

A lot of plans these days, voice is virtually free, texts are virtually free – you’ve got to pay the bills somehow, right? So we’re paying for it through the monetization of data.

A week from now, Canada will wake to a new government and there are certain to be changes impacting the information and communications technology and services sector. We already know that there will be a new Minister of Industry, since James Moore is not seeking re-election.

We do not yet know who will be Prime Minister, or whether we will have a minority or majority government.

A couple months ago, I wrote about “Building a digital platform“, providing some of the elements that I would be looking for as parties released their vision for how they would lead the country.

Will broadband for low-income households become an issue? Net neutrality?

What about a review of Canada’s Anti-Spam Laws?

Telemarketing continues to bother Canadians – and robo-calls from politicians are not likely going to be a welcome addition to Canadians’ dinner time interuptions. You have to love the idea that politicians exempted themselves from many of the more onerous provisions of the do not call regime.

Will any party commit to studying the impact and cost effectiveness of these laws?

A month later, I followed up with “A digital agenda for Canada“, listing the kinds of programs that I thought should find their way into party platforms:

• Inclusiveness: Which political parties will recognize the need to get low-income households online? There are solutions for connecting rural and remote regions, but the bigger issue is that of affordability, regardless of geography. As frequent readers know, my personal priority is to ensure all school aged kids have access to a connected home computer.
• Skills development: ICTC – the Information and Communications Technology Council – has launched a project in partnership with Microsoft Canada to develop a national digital talent strategy, seeking to ensure that Canada will have skilled talent to drive innovation and competitiveness, as entrepreneurs or as part of the workforce.
• e-Government: What kinds of efficiencies can be derived from an effective e-Government strategy, including e-Health, distance education and delivery of other government services?
• Digital economic policy: An expert panel should reviewing legislation and policy to ensure consistency with a drive to have Canadians benefit from and lead in the development of a digital economy. Canada is long overdue for an overall Telecom Policy review; the last report was delivered in 2006 [which called for a review to be held every 5 years -we are coming up on 10 years]. The last review pre-dated the AWS spectrum auction [that led to the creation of WIND Mobile, and the mobile operations of Videotron and Eastlink], CASL [Canada’s Anti-Spam Law], copyright reform, digital surveillance, Digital Canada 150 and major changes to policy and regulation emanating from the CRTC [such as Talk TV].

The major parties have now released their platforms and they all disappoint from a digital perspective.

The Conservatives mention keywords, such as “digital”, “internet” and “broadband”, but there are no surprises in the platform; from an ICT perspective, we can expect a continuation of the past few years and with token funding for further rural broadband expansion.

The NDP also use all three keywords, but continue to refer to the “digital divide” in the same sentence as rural broadband expansion; of the three parties, one might have thought that the NDP would pick up on the need to increase digital access for low income Canadians.

The Liberals don’t use the terms “broadband” or “internet” at all, but “digital” is used twice: to refer to improving the delivery of government services; and, in discussing access to open data.

I won’t add further commentary or indicate any preferences. I encourage you to follow the links provided above and explore the policies and plans for each of the parties. After you do so, be sure to go out and vote!

Together with all industry stakeholders, I am looking forward to working with the new Minister of Industry and the department to help create a more digitally inclusive Canada, enabling improved digital literacy among all of us, with legislation and policies that sensitive to privacy and security issues, as we continue the journey to transforming our digital economy.

Earlier this year, TELUS and Bell announced plans for significant investments in fiber to the home in Edmonton, Calgary and Toronto and expansion to other communities in their home territory. On Friday, TELUS announced a $1B plan to build fibre across all of Vancouver.

According to Cartt.ca, Rogers is expected to announce later today that it will be rolling out gigabit per second internet across its entire operating territory, leveraging the investments already made for its DOCSIS 3.1 hybrid fibre cable plant.

The service will be available later this year in parts of Toronto, along with Vaughan, Markham, Richmond Hill, Ajax, Pickering and Whitby. With downstream speeds up to 1 Gbps (1000Mbps) Ignite GB will then be available across the company’s cable footprint, from St. Thomas, Ontario to St John’s Newfoundland, in 2016.

Two different technology approaches to provide gigabit services to customers. Over a span of 6 months, there have been announcements to provide more than half of all Canadians with connections at the world’s fastest speeds. It appears that for many customers, more than one carrier will be building gigabit networks to their doorstep, delivering facilities based choice.

Access to gigabit networks is not just limited to those who live in Canada’s biggest cities. Bell Aliant has been building fibre networks throughout its territory, delivering high speed future-proof network capabilities to larger communities such as Saint John and Fredericton and small towns like Harbour Grace and Deer Lake.

It didn’t require government money to deliver these advanced capabilities, unlike the billions of dollars of public funds being spent in Australia.

Canada’s carrier community is deploying the capital to deliver advanced services, driven by market demand and competition.

In the meantime, other carrier are continuing to increase the speeds being delivered to rural and remote communities; at The 2015 Canadian Telecom Summit, Allison Lenehan, CEO of rural service provider Xplornet, challenged Canadian carriers to upgrade their networks to provide access to 100 Mbps speeds to all Canadians.

Fibre, coax, satellite, wireless can each play a role in delivering universal access to high speed services. As I have written before, one technology doesn’t fit every application. The government, both Industry Canada and the CRTC, have tended to examine networks from a geographic basis, but we have seen that the private sector has been able to deliver competitive, world-class solutions – and for many Canadians, allowing customers to choose between multiple platforms.

As I have written before, affordability, on the other hand, is not just a rural issue.

How can we ensure that all Canadians are able to take advantage of the networks that are being built to their doorsteps? What is the role of each level of government in developing targeted programs to increase adoption, especially among low income households?

How can government contribute to encourage continued investment? Should government contribute?

With an election in 2 weeks, which party will demonstrate digital leadership?

CNN Money featured a story about Neverware, a start-up launched by a colleague of my son: “Neverware is reviving old school computers“. Neverware created software that revives old computers and gets them running like new again, basically converting older PCs and Macs into a Google Chromebook.

By running everything in a web browser, the operating system puts much less strain on the computer’s hardware and can make the old machines feel new again. (It works with any computer manufactured in the last eight years.)

Neverware targets the school market, but it may be interesting to explore this approach to get lower cost devices into households that can’t afford to get computers for school aged children.

We need creative solutions to ensure that all of Canada’s school-aged children have access to a connected computer at home.

Will Neverware be able to help bring more devices to more kids in Canada?

I am not usually a big believer in municipal broadband projects.

I have been around the telecom industry long enough to remember government owned monopoly telecom carriers as the norm around the world. With few exceptions, governments are not known for customer service excellence.

Similarly, municipal broadband projects have had spotty records. Think about our roads and water and you recognize the challenge. Municipalities tend to follow “just too late” maintenance and service expansion.

An editorial in the Toronto Star endorses a proposal “to eliminate an income-based “digital divide” that hinders many of the poor from accessing information via high-speed Internet”, by bringing free WiFi to all Toronto Community Housing buildings, parks, civic squares, plazas and other public spaces.

This proposal could be interesting, especially if the city works in cooperation with private sector partners who can be contracted to provide support, training and most importantly, maintaining service quality at the highest levels. The aspect I like the most is that it targets a specific problem: increasing connectivity for low income households.

We need creative solutions to make sure that low income households have access to connected devices. School kids need computers with internet connections to be able to do homework at home – libraries and school computers simply aren’t enough. About 15% of Toronto’s households have no computer and have no broadband connection. Low cost (or free) connectivity is one part of the solution; we need to look at getting devices into these households as well.

Two years ago, a proposal never got past the committee stage “in the face of loud opposition from a small lobby concerned about the health effects of WiFi signals.” Let’s hope that junk science doesn’t derail an important discussion of possible ways to bring digital equality to those who can’t afford conventional services.