The whining about Canada’s supposedly pathetic broadband industry has begun. Once again, pundits are saying that Canada’s broadband service ranks with Poland and Mexico.

The OECD couldn’t be wrong, could it?

Surely the critics who make this statement are aware that Videotron has been a leader in introducing the world’s fastest cable broadband and had launched a commercial service with 50 Mbps speeds in February 2008. So why wouldn’t we start off by asking how the OECD’s report [ excel, 26KB] that is supposed to represent September 2008 could list Canada’s fastest advertised speed at 25Mbps. Had the OECD gotten the facts right, we would be tied with a number of countries that have fibre-to-the-home operators, and belies the mistaken view that Canadians enjoy a different internet experience.

One of the biggest challenges when crafting a request for proposals is to define the problem in terms of requirements instead of solutions. An RFP should give vendors the opportunity to propose creative solutions to your problem. It is much tougher to evaluate responses, because each bidder may approach the solution space differently, but this approach, giving bidders the greatest number of degrees of freedom, will result in more opportunities.

Most people define problems in terms of solutions. Many people say that they need nails when what they really need is to hold two pieces of wood together. The difference between defining problems in terms of requirements versus preordaining a solution.

I was concerned when I read that Susan Crawford, President Obama’s special assistant for science, technology and innovation policy said:

Simply put, a digital economy requires fiber, and Australia is making the determination that for that to work it will require a utility approach.

A digital economy doesn’t need fibre any more than I need a new car. I need a method of on-demand urban transportation. I’d like a new car, but there are other solutions that could fit the real statement of requirements.

We may end up with a lot of fibre in the solution for broadband, but the kind of statement from a presidential advisor that defines a specific solution is dangerous. It makes people think that solutions other than fibre are not quite up to the presidential standard. It ignores the reality that Australia recognized when it estimated that at least 10% of their population cannot be reached economically without wireless and satellite.

The statement diminishes the value of technology and innovation to deliver ultra-high speed options that leverage the vast capital assets that are already in the ground. People don’t require fibre service; they want the applications that are delivered over high speed internet. An important subtlety.

I’d really like a new car, though.

Building Broadband is the theme of one of the sessions at The 2009 Canadian Telecom Summit, which begins two weeks from today. Have you registered yet?

The CRTC issued 3 news releases yesterday, all dealing with the potential for exhaust of phone numbers in area codes 905 (the area encircling Toronto), 204 (Manitoba) and 819 (Western Quebec).

How can we be running out of numbers?

An area code potentially has 10,000,000 numbers, but since we don’t use a leading 1 or zero, that brings us down to 8,000,000 per area code. Canada already has 30 area codes – many areas having had geographic splits and then overlays. so Canada has 240 million numbers available for our 35 million people.

Egypt-based Orascom has been the primary source of cash for Globalive Wireless, one of Canada’s AWS new entrants. Its deep pockets enabled Globalive to bid more than $400M to acquire 10 MHz of spectrum everywhere in Canada other than Quebec.

While it has received approval of its ownership structure from Industry Canada, the CRTC still has to authorize it as a carrier under the Telecom Act, a process that is attracting considerable attention.

McCarthy Tetrault has recently published an analysis of the proceeding to determine the process for public review (what we call “a recursive proceeding“).

Of interest is news of the current battle that Orascom is engaged in for ownership and control of the largest mobile operator in its home market, ECMS. France Telecom, the partner in the joint venture’s holding company, Mobinil, has been trying to buy out Orascom’s interest, in a dispute that has dragged out for a couple years now.

Egypt’s securities market regulator has recently supported the “home team” in ruling that France Telecom was not offering minority shareholders enough. Last week, observers had expected the regulator to approve the offer. See Global Insight analysis.

What kind of pre-nuptial agreements are in place for Orascom’s venture in Canada?

The 2010 Vancouver Olympics will be accessed by viewers on a more personal level using a wider variety of media than any other event ever produced.

Alon Marcovici, VP Digital Media and Research for the Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium, will be speaking at The 2009 Canadian Telecom Summit on Wednesday June 17, addressing how broadcasting is adapting to the changing trends in how we want to receive programming. His group is enabling us to be able to watch the events of our choice, on the devices and over the networks that we select. While 400,000 Canadians will get to experience the Games live in Vancouver and Whistler, there are nearly 33 million of us who will be looking for coverage to be brought to us using a variety of new media.

Alon is responsible for managing the development of the digital programming, including online, mobile and Video on Demand, offering greater customization and interactivity on the various digital platforms.

Coverage of the Vancouver Olympics will be a demonstration of how broadcasting has to evolve to meet the needs of changing viewership and how to leverage every mode of new media communications as delivery vehicles.

Registration fees for The 2009 Canadian Telecom Summit go up on Monday.

Have you registered yet?

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Alon Marcovici, Canadian Telecom Summit, new media