Industry Minister Tony Clement gave parties until today to submit comments on the CRTC’s finding last month that Globalive does not comply with Canadian ownership requirements under the Telecom Act.

Why do I keep thinking of Calvinball when I read about the continuing twists and turns regarding the rules for the licensees from our last mobile spectrum auction?

Here is how Wikipedia describes the game, which was introduced about 20 years ago in the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes:

The only consistent rule is that Calvinball may never be played with the same rules twice. Scoring is also arbitrary, with Hobbes reporting scores of “Q to 12” and “oogy to boogy.” The only recognizable sports Calvinball is similar to are the ones that it emulates (i.e., a cross between croquet, polo, badminton, capture the flag, and volleyball.) Equipment includes a volleyball (the eponymous “Calvinball”), a soccer ball, a croquet set, a badminton set, assorted flags, bags, signs, and a hobby horse. Other things are included as needed, such as a bucket of ice-cold water, a water balloon, and various songs and poetry. Players also wear masks that resemble blindfolds with holes for the eyes. When Rosalyn asked Calvin what the reason for the requirement was, Calvin responded, “Sorry, no one’s allowed to question the masks.”

When asked how to play, creator Bill Watterson said, “It’s pretty simple: you make up the rules as you go.”

Calvinball is not the kind of game that the investment community will want to play. The government agencies (CRTC and Industry Canada) can’t be seen making up the rules as we go. That is why I told the Canadian Press that I don’t think the CRTC decision will be overturned.

Still, there is one aspect that the CRTC left a door open for policy guidance in its decision, as I suggested last month. There was an ambiguity in Paragraph 118 of the Decision in respect of the allowable amount of debt that could be held by a non-Canadian company.

The Industry Minister might pronounce on this particular point – providing clarity and flexibility – without tearing apart the integrity of foreign ownership restrictions.

Globalive is one of a number of new mobile spectrum license holders. Industry Canada needs to ensure that the rules are clear for all of the industry participants so that we can get on with the game.

Putting thoughts on the internet can sometimes lead to a life of being sorry.

The global village means that your tweets or random musings on a blog get broadcast around the world. Most of the time, you can’t un-ring the bell.

Employees need to be mindful of this when ranting against their employers. It is one thing to kvetch to your spouse over dinner. It is quite a different matter to go viral with it.

We have heard this before and we try to warn our kids to practice safe texting, but this is not just a problem for the young and naive among the citizen media corps.

Mainstream media organizations have challenges dealing with errors on internet news sites. Print versions of newspapers and magazines can issue corrections that reach most of the readers of the original story. How does a correction get distributed fairly in new media?

It is much tougher to counter false impressions left by factual errors in an internet environment. Although corrections may be added to a revised version of the original story, most readers don’t return.

A variety of degrees of a common problem – how do you retract what you wish you had not said?

How do you un-ring the bell?

My home is very close to Highway 407, the toll road that runs north of the greater Toronto area.

When it was first opened in 1997, the road was available toll free for people to try out. It was a delight to drive on a state-of-the-art multi-lane highway with no traffic.

Imagine two cars starting off in Mississauga in the west-end. They decide to race to Canada’s Wonderland in the middle of the work week. One car would use Highway 401 to 400 and the other would use the (as yet) unopened Highway 407. Both agree to keep their speed to the maximum allowed by law. Which car would win?

How is this tale relevant to Canadian telecom?

I have been reading some of the ads for the new HSPA+ networks. One of the carriers claims to have the fastest network in Canada. Apparently, they ran tests of their own data speed performance versus their primary competitor back in September 2009. But there is a problem with this boast. The new network didn’t open for business until two weeks ago.

Let’s face it, under those conditions, if they didn’t win the race on an empty network, well, that would have been an indicator of a serious problem. It will be interesting to see what those same tests look like next September, after close to a year of real operating experience.

As we see in car races, it takes an excellent driver and a disciplined pit crew to win consistently when all the teams are racing with the same machines.

Sandvine has released its annual study of global internet traffic [ pdf, 535KB].

They have found a shift in consumer behavior towards real-time applications, away from bulk “experience later” traffic. Real-time entertainment traffic (such as streaming media, Flash video, etc.) accounts for more than a quarter of all traffic in 2009, doubling its proportion from 2008. This demonstrably highlights the rapidly shifting nature of internet traffic, especially since network volumes have also continued to grow.

Adding to the challenges for network operators, the Sandvine research found that the top one percent of subscribers account for 25 percent of total traffic. However, the top users during a given peak hour are largely distinct from the peak users of the preceding month.

Among other findings, a more broad-based adoption of applications is driving peak utilization. According to Sandvine, peak-time total usage was only slightly influenced by the top users, suggesting that usage management and network congestion management are distinct objectives.

Sandvine’s 10 page executive summary is a very readable source of interesting statistical data and analysis about the state of internet traffic. Plenty of interesting observations; plenty of fascinating implications for networks and policy makers.

Beirut is supposed to be nice this time of year, although it doesn’t quite make my list of top 10 vacation destinations. The ITU has been holding its Global Symposium for Regulators and Global Industry Leaders Forum in Beirut for the past few days. The theme of the event, Hands-on or Hands-off? Stimulating growth through effective ICT regulation, seems to target the intellectual conflict that arises in evolving regulation in competitive telecommunications markets.

On the opening day, FCC Chair Julius Genachowski spoke, delivering a message that increasing adoption of communications services like broadband & mobile will contribute to advancing the goals of delivering peace, prosperity, education and health.

It is an optimistic vision. The text of the speech is below.
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