The British telecom regulator, Ofcom, opened a consultation on Tuesday to examine “Unexpectedly high bills.”

As Ofcom describes in its summary,

Communications services feature usage-based charging, which combined with the availability of a wide variety of services priced at different levels, some of which are used infrequently, means that consumers can find themselves facing bills that far exceed what they are used to, or expect. This is sometimes referred to as bill shock.

The consultation claims to be designed to enable Ofcom to better understand the issue of unexpectedly high bills “by inviting consumers to share their experiences.”

In parallel, Ofcom is asking services providers “about the steps that they take to protect their customers against unexpectedly high bills.”

Ofcom has also carried out some market research; the findings are set out in the Call for Inputs [pdf, 133 KB].

There are already a number of rules to protect consumers against unexpectedly high bills, such as requiring that service providers “supply consumers with clear and transparent information about their services and do not engage in unfair practices.” There are also some specific consumer protection rules that cover roaming in other EU countries.

Is this an exercise to develop new rules or to respond to political pressures? What additional rules would you seek? Should the CRTC act on bill shock?

A multi-screen universe has profound impacts on the communications industry. Our customers get to choose what content they want to watch, when they want to watch it and interact with it. They find and generate content, interact with it and share it across a variety of screens and devices.

How do the latest devices will enhance value and impact productivity for both businesses and consumers? What are some of the competitive dynamics at play engendered by these next generation devices? What are the designers and developers hearing from customers? How do voice and video calling interact with our gaming and TV experience?

The 2011 Canadian Telecom Summit will examine these kinds of questions and more on our June 2 panel Tablets, TVs and Smartphones, oh my!: The explosion of the multi-screen universe.

The panel brings together

• Rick Babington, Executive Director for HTC Canada
• David Neale, VP – Special Projects for Research in Motion
• Sean Seaton, VP Communications Sector for Microsoft Canada
• Jennifer Safruk, VP webOS for HP Canada

The panel will be moderated by one of North America’s leading consumer technology columnists, Marc Saltzman.

The 2011 Canadian Telecom Summit is May 31 to June 2 in Toronto. Have you registered yet?

What does it mean to migrate computing and data storage to the network? The answer to this will be explored by one of the panels The 2011 Canadian Telecom Summit, which opens 3 weeks from today in Toronto.

Cloud computing will look at a variety of issues with speakers from diverse perspectives.

What are the network considerations? Is there an impact on consumer adoption of cloud computing services with usage tiers? How do you prepare your IT organization?

The panel features

• Cogeco Data Services President Tony P. Ciciretto
• HP Canada CTO, Victor Garcia
• CGI Global Telecommunications Sector VP, Rene Sotola
• Microsoft Canada Director for Server & Cloud Platforms, Peter Doulas
• Oracle Communications Product Marketing, Director Brian Kracik

The panel will be moderated by Michael Sharun, EMC’s Canadian head. As more services and capabilities migrate to a cloud architecture, are you prepared for the issues and complexities? Are there opportunities you are missing?

The 2011 Canadian Telecom Summit is May 31 to June 2 in Toronto. Have you registered yet?

This week, I’ll take a little time to explore some of the panel discussions coming to The 2011 Canadian Telecom Summit.

One of the sessions on the morning of May 31 takes an in-depth look at Connecting Canadians: Delivering broadband to all. It is a panel that is especially relevant given the regulatory policy released last week on the Obligation to Serve and the CRTC’s universal minimum broadband speed targets.

The panel will look at rural and urban broadband development and the adoption of ICTs by Canadians. It features

• SaskTel President & CEO Ron Styles
• Barrett Xplore CEO John Maduri
• FTTH Council President Dan O’Connell
• Bell Canada VP Jonathan Daniels
• ITAC President & CEO Bernard Courtois

With this range of perspectives, guided by moderator Michael Tanglao, the panel will be able to explore the challenges and opportunities with increasing the availability and adoption of ICTs in Canada as we transform to a more digital economy.

Have you registered yet?

Yesterday saw the release of the 2011 edition of the Nokia Siemens Networks Connectivity Scorecard, an annual global research project led by Canada’s own Leonard Waverman, dean of the Haskayne School of Business at University of Calgary. The Scorecard now uses 40 different indicators, up from 28 last year, to rank 50 countries, not only on their deployment of ICT infrastructure, but also to measure “useful connectivity” – what the authors call the extent to which governments, businesses and consumers make use of connectivity technologies to enhance social and economic prosperity.

Canada climbed up a rung to 8th place, jostling in a cluster of four countries: UK (6th), Australia (7th) and Finland (9th) that are expected to swap positions in the coming years. The full report is available for download [pdf, 617 KB]

As Professor Waverman mentioned during the launch at Georgetown University yesterday, useful connectivity and the multi-variate analysis that makes up the Connectivity Scorecard looks beyond just infrastructure and attempts to examine how these facilities are put to use. It is important to examine the adoption of ICTs as well as the availability.

A couple of weeks ago, we saw the release of the World Economic Forum’s Global Information Technology Report. The NSN Connectivity Scorecard is another important guide for those developing national digital economy strategies. How will the government establish programs that take Canada to a leadership ranking in these two major indices?

We’ll be discussing these indices and so much more at the end of this month at The 2011 Canadian Telecom Summit. Have you registered yet?