The following are excerpts from the Opening Remarks delivered by Michael Sone and Mark Goldberg at The 2011 Canadian Telecom Summit last week.
Each year, we observe that all of us continue to use various forms of communications more than ever and each year we continue to increase our raw consumption of bits, of radio spectrum. This continues to be the trend and it continues to raise substantive policy issues as service providers try to stay ahead of the demand. How do we create the right environment to incent investment? How do we ensure that spectrum is made available in a manner that creates the appropriate balance between the various stakeholders’ interests.
Carriers are reporting more Canadians subscribing to combined voice and data plans for their smartphones; and over the past year, we have seen new facilities-based service providers offering services using their multi-billion dollar investments in spectrum and network equipment, despite the challenging economic environment.
We have also seen Netflix and others offer competitive alternatives to consumers outside of the traditional media framework, challenging policy and funding formulae.
The election disrupted the release of a national digital strategy. Too many people have focused too much attention on quick fixes, without sufficient examination of the painful structural changes that are needed to drive our digital economic future. As speakers may discuss over the next few days, as Canada develops our National Strategy for the Digital Economy, we will need to examine options to look beyond the urban/rural divide – especially as we recognize that broadband access has become virtually universal, thanks to wireless and satellite. Last week’s release by Statistics Canada of the Canadian Internet Use Survey has important data to inform those responsible for Canada’s digital strategy.
It is time to look beyond supply and understand that we need to address factors that impact demand, including programs that target affordability, and digital literacy.
We need to ensure that every household has a computer – starting with households that have school aged children. Although half of Canada’s lowest income households are still without internet access, it was noteworthy that 14 out of 15 households with children under 18 have an internet connection.
But let’s face it, as a country, we need to set a national objective: Every school aged child in Canada should have access to a connected home computer. We need to drive adoption of ICTs in business and in all dealings with government, especially in improving the quality and efficiency of health care delivery.
It has been too easy to look at the supply side of telecommunications and point fingers at carriers and ISPs. It is time to turn the government’s attention toward demand.
