One of the recurring questions being raised at the CRTC’s Network Interconnection hearing has been equal access to competitive long distance services.

In some countries, prefix digits are dialled to select the long distance carrier that will route the call; in Canada, such equal access has not been mandated, except where the mobile carrier has CLEC status, such as Fido.

Under questioning, MTS suggested that prices have been coming down as a result of competition in the mobile marketplace. Responding to the vice-chair, MTS said that ad hoc long distance from mobile phones is actually less expensive than calling long distance without a plan on its wireline network.

In practice, people have choices beyond their mobile services carrier, such as prepaid calling cards or specialized mobile long distance plans from alternate carriers such as Yak.

Long distance bills can cause some real angst among consumers who haven’t shopped around for lower cost alternatives; do we need better consumer education or increased regulatory intervention?

My tweet from Baikonur summed it up. What a blast!

It was a great week in Moscow and Baikonur, watching the launch of Viasat-1, the first of two next generation satellites that will close the geographical broadband divide for Canadians living and working in rural and remote areas.

It will take some effort to re-adjust to time zones here – there wasn’t much time for sleep since last Wednesday, thanks to a 12:48 am launch time and a Friday night (Saturday morning) 3:00 am departure from our hotel. It meant that Friday night, we just stayed up.

That proved to be not very difficult, thanks to the Circle of Light festival in nearby Red Square.

A generation ago, Red Square was where soldiers marched as part of a parade of military might, with rockets and tanks rolling in front of the politburo leadership.

On Friday evening, Muscovites gathered to enjoy a demonstration of the transformation of their historic square – technology bringing people together for a creative audio visual experience.

Satellite based broadband doesn’t deliver the same experience as fibre – but that isn’t the right comparison, because for many, fibre just isn’t an option. For that matter, DSL and cable modem service aren’t options either. Satellite based broadband service is the right technology for those millions of Canadians who live beyond the reach of terrestrial solutions, who choose between dial-up or nothing.

Canadians with dial-up modems – that often have trouble connecting at 4800 bits per second over rural lines – make downloading emails a nightly exercise, so that you don’t tie-up the line and because attachments take all night.

For these Canadians, Xplornet’s half billion dollar investment in satellites is the fulfillment of a dream – continuing the deployment of advanced satellite technology to finish the job of communications connectivity over this vast country. Canada had the world’s first commercial communications satellite with the launch of Anik in 1972, delivering connectivity to the north. The launch of Viasat-1 continues the evolution of satellite communications to deliver high-speed connectivity for the next decade.

Over the next few months, Xplornet will be working to complete the connectivity testing with Viasat-1’s  game-changing technology, enabling all Canadians to access advanced broadband service, regardless of where they live.

The Circle of Light show was a great send-off for us leaving Moscow. We should all be toasting the successful launch of Viasat-1: На здоровье.

It’s nearly 18 months since the launch of a review of foreign investment in Canada’s telecommunications sector. The file was derailed a year ago in the wake of a completely unrelated file: the government’s rejection of BHP Billiton acquiring Saskatchewan’s Potash Corporation.

When the consultation was announced at The 2010 Canadian Telecom Summit, it was said that “We will have a relatively short, but important discussion period commencing with the release of that report in the next few days so we can get the feedback from both the industry and Canadian consumers.”

At the time, I spoke with Canadian Press:

Industry analyst Mark Goldberg, who also organizes the telecom summit, praised the government’s initiative but also said it is prudent to quickly advance the plan, because the leaving the future uncertain could actually hurt all of the carriers.

“Once you open a process and there’s uncertainty as to which direction is going to be followed, it creates an overhang for the capital markets. The ability of companies to raise capital during that interim period of uncertainty can’t be overstated,” he said. “It could be extremely damaging to small players and large players alike to have a lengthy period of uncertainty when you’ve got such a capital intensive business.”

It is painful to see this issue continue to drag out. A year ago, the issue was attached to the 700 MHz spectrum auction consultation for no really good reason. As I wrote at the time, we need clarity on foreign investment rules in advance of the auction, but these changes are for more than just the wireless sector.

In fact, we would have had a better, more informed spectrum consultation had foreign investment been resolved, either way, before the consultation took place.

When can we expect some clarity?

 

It is launch day. Be sure to visit Xplornet’s website with the countdown to the launch of Canada’s 4G satellite for rural and remote broadband.

I’ll have photos and video when I return from Kazakhstan.

A group of 12 rural ISPs has published an open letter to the Industry Minister seeking changes to the way spectrum is typically auctioned.

A year ago, I wrote:

The way spectrum has been getting auctioned, rural areas are bundled in with the urban centres. So, the carriers who buy more spectrum to serve the densely populated big cities end up controlling the less dense areas as well – in a sense, they get the rural licenses for free. How can we ensure that rural spectrum isn’t being hoarded without being deployed to the benefit of rural residents?

The letter from the rural ISPs says: “The solution is remarkably simple – set aside rural areas from urban areas and deal with them separately.”

The open letter has been appearing in The Hill Times.