Empathy for the digitally disenfranchised

March 17, 2013

Sometimes it’s easiest to simply respond to the loudest voices. There are lots of instances where we see government bodies respond to groups, large and small, making lots of noise.

That is completely understandable. It is natural for us to turn our heads in the direction of a loud noise, to soothe a screaming infant, to turn down the loud music that wakes us each morning.

The old squeaky wheel adage.

It is a tougher job to ensure that policies and regulations address the needs of those who aren’t shouting.

How do we ensure that someone deals with the needs of voices that can’t be heard?

For example, there are more than 2 million households in Canada that have no computer, let alone an internet connection. Who is representing these people at regulatory hearings and policy discussions?

Connected computers correlates with household income. Half of the households in the bottom 20% of income account for 1.25 million of the digitally disenfranchised. Half of the households that have no computer are those in the lowest income quintile.

Many of us have trouble relating to them.

I had an interesting exchange on Twitter with a reader who followed up on some of the Scotia Capital wireless myths that I posted last week. He was having difficulty with the arithmetic associated with comparing 2-year contracts in the US to 3-year contracts in Canada. When told that you can accelerate the upgrade date, he asked why would we bother with 3 year contracts then?

To which I responded “not everyone wants or needs a new phone or can afford to change every year or 2.”

According to the Scotia Capital report: “We think the three-year contract has actually led to low handset prices that helped smartphone penetration in Canada.”

It would be great if everyone had economic circumstances that enabled them to upgrade devices as frequently as manufacturers and application developers might prefer. However, many people have different priorities for their spending and prefer to spread out or defer the payments as long as possible.

With the virtual elimination of early termination fees in favour of accelerated device financing buy-outs, it is difficult to understand why the issue of 3-year contracts continues to surface. Such lengthy terms have proven to be the most popular choice when shorter terms were also offered. Long term contracts have provided initial cost advantages that Scotia Capital says contributes to higher penetration of smartphones. Will such low-cost entry options continue to be available?

Loud voices resulted in broadband stimulus packages that focus on funding for rural without consideration of economic need for transfers spending hundreds of millions of dollars without any consideration of the needs of low income Canadians. Where are the broadband stimulus programs for Canada’s urban centres?

While it is easiest to hear the loud voices in the room, it is just as important for policy makers to consider and respond to the needs of those who aren’t being heard at all.

The stuff of urban legends

March 11, 2013

More than 30 years ago, in my early days in the telecom industry, there was a story circulating – maybe an urban legend or just part of telecom folklore, but it came to mind as we head into March vacation.

As I recall, a group of women from a sorority at a large mid-western university went to a warmer climate for Spring Break. The boyfriends from a nearby frat house remained at school. Thanks to some alcohol inducement, the boys decided to phone the girlfriends Friday night, pre-Skype, pre-competitive long distance, in the days when long distance rates were frequently $3.00 per minute.

It didn’t take long for the boys to realize that they were in for more than $200 – a term’s tuition – in the first hour on the phone. The decision was made to keep the phone off the hook for the whole weekend. It was an intercom for staying in touch like an international baby room monitor. Monday morning, the long-lines technicians knocked down the call and that finally closed off the call billing record. The bill came in for more than $10,000. A call to customer service claimed it had to be a network or billing error. How could there have been a 60 hour long phone call? No one in their right mind would make such a call.

The charge was reversed. Was the story true? I don’t know, but it makes for a good story.

You’re thinking $3 per minute? And that was in an era when $3 was an hourly wage. Remember the days before there was competition?

In early 1991, during the hearings that led to Decision 92-12, I found myself in Whitehorse, flipping through the front pages on the phone book, staring with amazement at the price of calling Toronto. I had already experienced the benefits of competitive long distance south of the border and it was remarkable to me that we had to convince government regulators and policy makers that the idea of competition would be a positive move.

I recall that one of our ads at the time said that competition brings out the best in all of us. I continue to believe that is true.

A competitive framework gives consumers choices of technologies and choices of service providers for voice and data communications. Alternate service providers have helped drive increased responsiveness from all of the industry participants.

There remain lots of opportunities to continue to improve in customer care. That area continues to be the voice of the service provider. It is one of the most difficult jobs that I have run across in the industry. Customers generally call because they have a problem that needs fixing or an issue with their bill. With more than 25M mobile phone lines out there, and at least that many phone lines, internet and TV connections, we are talking about more than half a billion bills per year. That’s half a billion opportunities to disappoint customers each year.

Be honest, does anyone open the mailbox, see the logo of their communications service provider and think “Oh goody! The bill arrived. I’ve been looking forward to paying it. ”

We will be exploring the challenges and successes delivering a positive customer experience in a session looking at Business Transformation at The 2013 Canadian Telecom Summit being moderated by Dan Rydeen of PwC. It is another one of the reasons that I think you should be planning to attend.

Join us June 3-5 in Toronto. Have you registered yet?

Canadian Wireless Myths and Facts

January 28, 2025 / 2 Comments

In response to popular demand, the folks at Scotia Capital have authorized me to post their recent Canadian Wireless Myths and Facts report on this blog.

If you would like to challenge a Bay Street analyst on the numbers, please go ahead. As my friend at Scotia Capital says, he is challenged on his numbers every day.

Canadian Wireless Myths and Facts [pdf, 239KB]

Top 10 myths on Canadian wireless

March 8, 2013 / 2 Comments

Scotia Capital released a report this morning called Canadian Wireless Myths and Facts.

We believe the facts support that Canada has a healthy wireless industry that benefits both consumers and carriers. We think it is time for the regulators to declare victory on the policies they adopted five years ago.

Contact Scotia for a copy. [Update: The Scotia Capital report can be found here]

In a series of tweets, I highlighted the top 10.

I encourage you to get a copy of the 14 page report and see the basis of these assertions.

Wireless in Canada

March 15, 2025

This morning, the government released what it called “New measures to increase competition in the wireless sector“. There were a number of elements to the release, including a clear statement of the objective driving the measures: “To be clear, our government wants to see at least four players in each market.”

To that end, there were four key elements to the announcement:

  • expanding—and extending—the requirement for wireless companies to provide roaming on their networks to competitors;
  • tightening the rules to increase cellphone tower sharing, thereby helping to limit the construction of new cell towers;
  • use the upcoming wireless spectrum auctions to promote four competitors in each region of the country;
  • review the policy on spectrum licence transfers with the objective of promoting competition in the wireless sector.

The government news release contains a number of links to various background pieces, including a Commercial Mobile Spectrum Outlook that identifies more than 300 MHz of additional spectrum (beyond the 700 MHz and 2500 MHz bands) that could be made available by 2017.

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