I like to seek out obscure notations within court and regulatory rulings.
Like this one that can be found in today’s decision by the BC Supreme Court on the issue of who has the fastest and most reliable network:
[5] The wireless telecommunication industry in Canada is dominated by a corporate triumvirate consisting of Rogers, Telus and Bell Mobility Inc. Much like the triumvrs of the late Roman Republic, the competition among them is intense.
Battling claims in court, heavy investment in infrastructure. These aren’t the typical characteristics of a cosy oligopoly portrayed by some.
And now there is a judicial finding of intense competition. Rogers Claims – Fastest Most Reliable – Judgment http://d1.scribdassets.com/ScribdViewer.swf?document_id=23080573&access_key=key-2fhcrrtug51z8yl4tamf&page=1&version=1&viewMode=list
What is the meaning of this hash tag “#rodo“? For many of my readers who follow me on this blog, you must still be new to Twitter.
Otherwise, you would have seen my numerous tweets from the launch of Rogers On Demand Online (RODO) Beta last night – targeted at the social media crowd.
I was one of the few grey haired guys invited to join; I commented at one point that when I think Beta and video, it reminds me of my first VCR. Most of the others in the room may not have ever seen a VCR!
Anyway, I’ll be playing around with the Rogers on Demand Online Beta for the next little while. Some of the important points that I picked up:
The service will be available to any Rogers subscriber to any Rogers service. So, even if you are just subscribing to one Fido phone in an otherwise TELUS or Bell or Teksavvy or Primus household, you will be able to get a free account.
Premium content will be available to subscribers to premium video. So, all users can get access to content on the over the air portions of the site, such as CityTV, but other content will be available to other users. This is an advantage over Hulu, which does not get access to premium content.
Initially, there will be two different bit rates for different quality images (and different impact on your monthly bit caps).
I’ll let Rogers tell their own story about features – you can look through my tweets to see some of the highlights.
As I was heading home, a colleague and I chatted about what had been presented and we agreed that RODO has the potential to be an industry game changer on many, many levels.
RODO brings quality video (contrasted with user generated) to Canadians, with full licensing of the content. It is a different business model from the many of the popular US services – such as Hulu – but it recognizes the need to provide value to all the players in the food chain, while giving customers access to the content they want. [Rogers will have to work hard to make network content available quickly, racing against unlicensed copies.]
By authenticating the user and using ad support, there is tremendous knowledge about the viewer available for improved targeting of consumers – increasing the potential for higher rate ads.
By tying the service to Rogers customers, there is the opportunity for inoculation against churn. Video services will encourage customers to buy higher bandwidth and high bitcap services driving improved performance from the internet business unit.
The deeper you look, the more potential you see for On Demand Online.
As David Purdy, Rogers VP Video Product Management said last night, “we’re no longer in the cable TV business; we’re in the video entertainment business.” Rogers On Demand Online demonstrates a means for broadcast distributors to maintain relevance. Profitably.
As a streaming media vehicle with an easy user interface, coupled with terabytes of archival storage, does On Demand Online provide a portal for more Canadian content?
Will RODO accelerate telco FTTN deployment?
Will local content be able to find a home on this portal, allowing users to access news and information whether on road or at home?
Last week, comments were filed with the FCC in response to the Berkman study of international broadband comparisons.
Recall that last month Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society delivered its draft broadband study, commissioned by the FCC to assist in the development of a National Broadband Plan through an expert review of literature.
Many of the comments were not supportive of the Harvard Berkman study.
In an earlier blog posting, we had observed that there appeared to be statistical problems in the Berkman study that would not hold up to peer review. Our comments may have understated the extent of the problems.
The Phoenix Centre said that the Berkman study was “so flawed that it cannot be relied upon to formulate public policy”:
the Berkman Study first improperly estimates its econometric model and then incorrectly interprets the results from it. The error in the interpretation is significant. While the [Berkman] Study’s authors verbally conclude that open access policies stimulate increased consumption of broadband, the econometric model they rely upon shows the opposite – open access reduces the consumption of broadband.
The Phoenix Centre also said
[Under the Berkman Study’s analysis] the supply curve is downward sloping! This result implies that as broadband prices rise, network operators supply less broadband. Intuitively, this result makes little sense, violates the law of supply, and muddles interpretation.
Oops.
NTT weighed in to correct errors in Berkman’s analysis of the Japanese market – errors that it said could have been avoided had the authors of the Berkman study interviewed NTT.
First, facilities based competition, not unbundling, has been the key to broadband growth in Japan.
… Second, the report mistates the importance of ‘government-subsidized loans’ to the success of broadband deployment in Japan.
… Third, the Berkman Center’s draft study is internally contradictory.
… In sum, the review of broadband facilities and regulation in Japan contained in the Berkman Center draft study is both factually incorrect and internally inconsistent.
Verizon’s comments said the Berkman study largely ignored the body of literature that demonstrate that unbundling and mandated open access policies have not only failed to improve broadband performance, but frequently have had the opposite effect.
In particular, study after study has shown that government policies such as subsidizing the development of broadband infrastructure and a range of demand-side factors from population density to computer ownership – not the preference for unbundling over intermodal facilities-based competition – are the primary factors explaining the successes of some other countries.
Many of the comments observed that the Berkman study ignored its mandate: to conduct an independent expert review of existing literature and studies about broadband deployment and usage throughout the world.
The New Zealand Institute for the Study of Competition and Regulation, based at Victoria University of Wellington, observed that the Berkman report does not contain an explicit review of the large body of literature on policy and broadband market performance from academic and peer-reviewed sources – fewer than 10 of the more than 400 referenced citations were derived from papers in this body of literature.
The New Zealand submission raised “questions about the standards of competence and integrity applied to this aspect of the Berkman analysis, and by extension to the entire project.”
Johannes Bauer, of Michigan State University’s Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies, and Media was less harsh, but said:
The Commission should take the evidence provided in the study into consideration but be keenly aware of the limitations of the study. Furthermore, caution is appropriate when transferring lessons from abroad to the US. Not only is the market environment different, the institutional, legal, and regulatory environments also differ from those of other countries. Not all observations from abroad can be transferred to national contexts
NCTA was quoted saying “The Berkman Report, in short, is an advocacy piece, not the work of dispassionate scholarship that the Commission requested.” The Broadcasting & Cable news story said that would make it antithetical to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s stated aim of having data, not ideology, drive conclusions.
Recent press releases and advertisements speak about the high percentage of Canada’s population that has access to new advanced mobile wireless services.
I think it is remarkable that such a substantial majority of Canadians, close to 95% of us, fall within the HSPA and HSPA+ coverage. Looking at the competing network maps, we can see that most Canadians are already able to choose between multiple carriers for mobile voice and data services offering speeds that rival and often beat wireline access.
But a closer examination of the maps shows that, while the majority of the population is covered by mobile wireless networks, there is a vast part of the country that is beyond the reach of terrestrial towers.
About 2M Canadians live and work outside the coverage, and many other Canadians sometimes venture out of their urban and suburban comfort zones to go play.
On September 11, 2009, Rick Stephens and his hunting partner, Trent Bossence, were 7 days into a 12-day hunting trip in the Coast Mountain Range of Northern British Columbia. They were 85 miles from the nearest town, Dease Lake and four miles from their base camp, when Rick’s hunting knife slipped and he cut his leg just below the knee, severing a tendon.
We tried to treat my injury and prepare for what we thought would be a long cold night on the mountain. But I happened to have a SPOT Satellite Personal Tracker so Trent was able to instantly send a 9-1-1 message and our GPS location coordinates.
Within 2½ hours of the signal being sent, the rescue team located Stephens and his partner and airlifted them off the mountain. Since it was introduced, the SPOT Satellite Personal Tracker has initiated more than 450 rescues and sent over 10 million check-in and tracking messages around the world.
I have written before about satellite as an important part of the solution for universal broadband service for Canadians in their homes and offices to Canadians who are beyond the reach of terrestrial networks.
Similarly, Globalstar‘s SPOT tracker enables a mobile lifeline for people who venture off the beaten track. The device itself is affordable and its service subscription is only $100 per year.
With Christmas a month away, this look like a perfect gift for camping, hunting and hiking enthusiasts. I suspect that those who have boats in cottage country might consider this as part of our on-board safety equipment.
Industry Minister Tony Clement and his Israeli counterpart, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, have committed to negotiate a Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) to ease the importing and exporting of telecommunications equipment between Canada and Israel.
Such agreements are already in place with the European Community, the European Free Trade Area countries, Switzerland, members of the Organization of American States and members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.
An MRA will broaden trade opportunities for Canada’s telecommunications industry and provide access to Israel’s latest communications technology for Canadian industry and consumers. I look forward to having Canadian and Israeli officials meet to begin negotiating the MRA for telecommunications equipment.
Industry Canada officials are expected to travel to Israel early in 2010 to begin negotiating the MRA.
For the past two years, Israeli telecommunications firms have been actively participating in The Canadian Telecom Summit and a number of these firms are already actively working with Canadian service providers and manufacturers.
The 2010 Canadian Telecom Summit will take place June 7-9, 2010 in Toronto. Planning has already started and registrations are open.
