A Reuters story from the World Economic Forum caught my eye. The story was headlined: “At Davos, fears the Internet will devolve into a fragmented mess.”

Yet even as the Internet has become embedded in modern life, its interconnected nature has come under attack from interests ranging from governments to corporate brands decrying copyright abuses or fearing cyber attacks such as those at Sony.

Seeking to fill these breaches, national governments, courts and regulators are pressing for local controls that could “Balkanize” – or fragment – the network.

Former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, will be addressing these kinds of issues at The 2015 Canadian Telecom Summit, taking place June 1-3, in Toronto. His remarks will address “One Internet or Thousands: Preserving the World Wide Web in a Diverse Globe.”

Mr. Chertoff is a member of the Global Commission on Internet Governance, a two-year initiative launched in January 2014 by the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) and Chatham House, to produce a comprehensive stand on the future of multi-stakeholder Internet governance.

As the Reuters story describes, there is a risk that the global Internet is fragmenting, with different countries controlling their own versions. This has raised concerns about the free flow of information and innovation, risks to human rights of free expression, and barriers to global commerce and economic prosperity.

The Global Commission on Internet Governance is seeking to recommend a model that promotes the continued existence a free and accessible global Internet into the future.

The objective of The 2015 Canadian Telecom Summit [June 1-3, Toronto] is to deliver thought provoking presentations from the prime movers of the industry.

The Canadian Telecom Summit gives you the chance to hear from and talk with them in both a structured atmosphere of frank discussion and high octane idea exchange and schmooze in a more relaxed social setting of genial conversation.

Early bird rates are available through February 28. Register now to save more than $200.

According to its three-year plan, later this year the CRTC will launch a proceeding to examine what should be considered basic telecommunications service.

The CRTC will initiate a comprehensive review to determine what services (e.g. voice and broadband) are required by all Canadians to fully participate in the digital economy and whether there should be changes to the subsidy regime and national contribution mechanism.

In general, the subsidy systems we have in Canada have been based on geography without regard to financial needs. We subsidize rural telecom service, trying to deal with higher cost of providing service to such regions. That has been the basis of the “contribution” subsidy regime for traditional local telephone service. Industry Canada has given out hundreds of millions of dollars to reduce the cost of providing internet service in rural and remote regions.

These subsidies go to everyone in the region, not just those who have a financial need.

Such an approach is politically attractive. Oversized ceremonial subsidy cheques create a number of photo ops for politicians: at the time of the announcement; when construction starts; and, when service launches. All of the households in a given region get a handout, whether they need or not, so all of the households are grateful to the politician who delivered savings.

On the other hand, low income Canadians, who tend to be concentrated in urban areas across the country, have no programs to help them pay for service. Prices that seem affordable to most Canadians, may be out of reach for those who are living from week-to-week, let alone month-to-month. All of us may complain about the price of service – who wouldn’t like lower bills for everything – but more than 80% of us have computers at home connected to the internet. As I have written many times, there are too many low income households that don’t have a computer, let alone a broadband connection.

Canada needs to make changes to its approach if we want to bridge the gap between those who can and those who cannot afford to participate in a digital economy.

In the United States, there is “Lifeline“, a program that provides targeted discounts on monthly telephone service, funded by the universal service fund (USF). The USF is somewhat analogous to Canada’s National Contribution Fund in that it is funded by a levy on telecommunications service provider revenues.

Two and a half years ago, the US cable industry launched “Connect2Compete” to increase adoption of connected computers in low-income households with children. When asked about such a program in February 2013, Christian Paradis (the Industry Minister at that time) said “the CRTC has jurisdiction over this.”

A program that targets low income Canadians won’t directly deliver votes to the government; the recipients of the program benefits are too widely distributed across the country. Still, it is the right thing to do.

A Thomas Friedman interview with former Israeli President Shimon Peres at the World Economic Forum in Davos is worth watching to gain insights from the 91 year old Nobel Laureate. Peres talks about the need to invest in long term societal change, believing strongly in investing in education, especially science: “You cannot escape poverty without science.” Later in the interview, he says that in the future, countries won’t be counting how many square miles they have, but rather, how many scientists they have per square mile.

It seems to me that you cannot deliver science education without access to modern communications services. For Canada to be a leader in a global digital economy, we need to expand the inclusiveness of opportunity to those Canadians who are economically disadvantaged.

Delivering subsidies based on financial need will stimulate the demand side of the adoption equation. Increased demand will in turn, stimulate supply, without advantaging one supplier over another.

Targeting low-income Canadians may not deliver votes as directly as a series of photo ops in rural communities, but it is the right thing to do. That’s what I would vote for.

The theme for The 2015 Canadian Telecom Summit [June 1-3 in Toronto] is “Hyper Connectivity: Shaping Personal & Business Digital Relationships.” As more of our appliances, vehicles, devices and things get connected to a global backbone, there are fundamental impacts on infrastructure, operations and human resources to manage the digital interaction.

Our “Internet of things: Hyper Connectivity” panel on June 3 will examine these themes.

The confluence and integration of mobile, cloud, analytics, social media, and apps under the larger banner of IoT (The Internet of Things) are rapidly reshaping the competitive nature of economies around the world. An IoT economy that is projected to be around $9 trillion globally by 2020, according to IDC research.

As more devices get connected to the Internet from cars, health sensors, grids, transportation, to large-scale manufacturing and smart cities—the sum of data offered by such a connected world is growing exponentially. Cisco Systems estimates that approximately 12.1 billion Internet-connected devices were in use during April 2014, and that figure is expected to grow to above 50 billion by 2020. Businesses are increasingly leveraging this cumulative intelligence to increase scale and scope, rapidly reshaping our digital economy to an intelligence economy.

This panel is a rare opportunity to hear from key industry and policy makers on how best to position Canada in this impending connected economy and address the various catalysts to better shape services for Canadians and help businesses respond to global markets, among these are: telecom infrastructure needs, knowledge & talent, trade policies, access to capital, culture of organizations, others.

The panel will be moderated by Namir Anani, the CEO of Canada’s Information and Communications Technology Council. We are pleased to have confirmed SaskTel CEO Ron Styles, Shared Services Canada CEO Liseanne Forand, Siemens Canada CEO Robert Hardt and Nokia Networks Head of OSS and CEM, Nicola Marziliano to be on that panel.

As Canada’s largest purchaser of communications services, Shared Services Canada is consolidating the Government of Canada’s 50 wide-area networks (WANs) into a single enterprise network; establishing a shared network infrastructure in office buildings that house multiple departments; and securing and optimizing connections to the Internet. As Shared Services works to generate savings while improving service and security for the Government of Canada, it will be interesting to learn how the agency is helping government prepare for opportunities enabled by hyper connectivity and the internet of everything.

Siemens, a global engineering and electronics conglomerate is leveraging the internet of things, deploying an IoT architecture in its manufacturing processes and product quality assurance, as it becomes able to analyse data from sensors, machines and manufacturing processes.

SaskTel is the largest government owned telecommunications service provider in Canada. Its unique ownership structure and market position create opportunities for leadership in delivering on its commitment to making Saskatchewan a better place to live.

From the first ever call on GSM, to the first call on LTE, Nokia Networks operates at the forefront of each generation of mobile technology. How will networks accommodate the connections and data generated by the internet of things?

These are just some of the industry leading speakers who are going to be at The 2015 Canadian Telecom Summit, June 1-3, in Toronto. Check the website frequently to see the latest additions to the agenda.

Have you registered yet?

The schedule is starting to take shape; the first major email blast of the year is going out today for The 2015 Canadian Telecom Summit, which will take place June 1-3 at the Toronto Congress Centre.

For three full days, The 2015 Canadian Telecom Summit will again deliver thought-provoking insights from the prime movers of the industry. The Canadian Telecom Summit gives you the chance to hear from and talk with them in both a structured atmosphere of frank discussion and high-octane idea exchange and schmooze in a more relaxed social setting over espresso or cocktails.

Join your colleagues participating in executive presentations from those who have the greatest influence on the direction of Canadian telecommunications, broadcasting and information technology. Hear from global leaders and local trend-setters. Meet with your suppliers, customers and partners. Challenge your competition.

Attracting the senior-most professionals from around the globe, The Canadian Telecom Summit is the forum for the broad cross-section of stakeholders to meet, exchange views, share ideas, challenge assumptions and plan for the future.

If you haven’t received our email blast, check your spam folders and be sure to include “gstconferences.com” on your email white list. Sign up for our conference mailing list here.

Early bird rates are in effect until the end of February. Register now for the best savings. You can view (or download) the brochure at Scribd.

Should cities be in the business of running telecommunications networks?

Some say yes, to address gaps in service being delivered by major national and regional carriers. Others, perhaps recalling the history of government telecom monopolies, are far less supportive.

Leverett, Massachusetts [population 2,000] is in the western part of the state, near the Five College area of Amherst, Hampshire, Smith, Mt. Holyoke and the University of Massachusetts. In 2011, the community began planning for municipally owned fibre to the home (FTTH) project.

A case study on Leverettnet was released by Susan Crawford at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society a little over a year ago. Although the project was supposed to be fully operational by December, 2014, a call into the town administrator’s office confirmed that they are still about 6 months away. Construction is said to be only 80% complete.

Strand Consult, based in Copenhagen, released a research note this morning with comments on the case for municipal FTTH in Leverett. The research note challenges the benefits that the community will receive.

In addition to challenging the specifics about the Leverett project, the note makes some important observations, highlighting that the “academic evidence between FTTH and economic growth is neither clear nor conclusive.”

Strand Consult observes that in “Denmark, a country that perennially scores high on the OECD’s study of broadband deployment, speed, adoption, and price that while 70% of the population have access to ultra-fast broadband, less than 2% subscribe.”

I noticed a tweet from the Economic Development office in Gravenhurst, Ontario that spoke of plans to deliver FTTH in 2015. Industry Canada is evaluating submissions for federal government support of rural and remote broadband projects and political parties are starting to develop their digital agendas to be included in campaign materials later this year.

These groups should all carefully – and critically – explore the case for municipal broadband.

As Strand Consult states, “Rather than consider FTTH as a magic bullet to save ailing communities, broadband should be evaluated as one variable in a complex equation for economic growth.”