Yesterday’s papers carried the news of the arrival of fourth generation wireless to Canada with announcements by Bell and Rogers that they are trialling LTE mobile technology. However, it was acknowledged that there aren’t consumer devices available yet for LTE.

But Barrett Xplore announced that it is moving even faster. Barrett Xplore is already starting to build its commercial 4G network for rural markets, comprised of roughly 1200 towers. Operating under the Xplornet brand, this network will be capable of speeds over 40Mbps, improving to 100Mbps by next year.

I sit on the advisory board for Barrett Xplore and it is exciting news that customers across Canada will begin to have access to the advanced capabilities of this $150M investment before the end of the year.

The announcement from Barrett Xplore included confirmation of the progress of its new 4G high-throughput satellite network being launched in 2011 and 2012.

As the video says, the wait is over for rural Canada. Faster broadband is on the way.

We have begun work on The 2011 Canadian Telecom Summit. Already, the first few sponsors and first few keynote speakers have been confirmed. We are ready to receive proposals for speakers and sessions.

The 2011 Canadian Telecom Summit will take place May 31 – June 2 in Toronto. This year marks the 10th annual gathering of the leadership of Canada’s communications and information technology industries.

Registrations are also open, in case you want help managing your year end budget.

What topics would you like to see us explore?

Nielsen released a report on US smartphone sales that show Android taking the lead over the past six months.

The report found that 32% of new smartphone sales during that period were handsets powered by Android, with Blackberry at 26% and Apple’s iPhone close behind at 25%.

Considering the embedded base, Blackberry remains the leader at 31% followed by iPhone at 28% and Android at 19%, an increase from 8% of the market as recently as January. Blackberry fell from 36% in that period.

The Android operating system is embedded in devices made by a number of manufacturers, including HTC, Motorola, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and LG. The multiple-supplier approach allows the device makers to differentiate based on various consumer electronics features, whether it is a slider keyboard or enhanced camera.

While many commentators have focussed on Apple versus RIM, Google’s Android OS has moved into first place for new phone shipments.

Will Microsoft’s upcoming launch of Windows Phone 7 provide a new challenger for smartphone OS supremacy?

Microsoft will be launching Windows Phone 7 next week in New York; signals are strong that Canadians won’t be waiting very long.

I like Microsoft’s chances in this category. Despite the almost religious fervour that surrounds nearly everything that Apple touches [could any other company have survived the iPhone 4 antenna?], it is important to bring perspective to overall market share – what would be the impact of Microsoft in bringing its share of the personal computer market into the smartphone business? Will Microsoft Office – the real thing, not a “compatible” viewer/editor  – help attract more of the business market? Will Outlook Mobile and Exchange integration compete effectively with Blackberry Enterprise Server? Can Microsoft deliver its Xbox LIVE users to the mobile gaming market?

Will Microsoft’s strategy of powering a wide array of device manufacturers win out over the Apple, Blackberry and Nokia sole-sourcing approach?

Regardless, it comes down to a lot more choice for consumers this holiday season – a lot more toys for Santa to choose from.

Watch for news coming from analyst and media briefings over the next week, culminating with a launch in New York next Monday.

A report with recommendations to drive universal broadband service was released by Blair Levin last week.

Levin was the former FCC insider – chief of staff for Chairman Reed Hundt in the 1990’s. The report, Universal Broadband: Targeting Investments to Deliver Broadband Services to All Americans [pdf, 1.96MB]was written with the perspective that “all Americans will need access to broadband networks and public policy should encourage broadband adoption.”

   

The report envisages repurposing the Universal Service Fund to flow towards filling service voids in a technology and company agnostic manner.

The report acknowledges that satellite is part of the universal broadband solution, although there is no information provided as to how it developed the estimate of only 0.2% of households being un-reachable by terrestrial services.

Ultimately, it will be too expensive to provide service to the last .2 percent of homes, so those homes should be served by satellite broadband.

But the paper goes further than supply-side.

Numerous surveys show that low-income Americans adopt broadband at less than half the rate of wealthier Americans. Cost is the biggest factor, but it is not the only factor. Digital literacy and relevance also loom large as factors affecting adoption.

There are a number of recommendations to increase demand among those who are economically disadvantaged. To what extent will Canada look at these kinds of programs?