Amid telecom results published yesterday, the attention in Canada was focussed on TELUS and Bell and the impact of the economy on wireless activations.
In the meantime, south of the border, where the impact of the recession has been far more pronounced, MetroPCS released results that showed record activations of 684,000 new subscribers in the first quarter of the year, representing 37% subscriber growth when compared to the same quarter a year ago. Keep in mind that MetroPCS does not have national coverage and it is operating in the US, a market that is more saturated with higher mobile penetration rates than Canada. MetroPCS is specifically targeting landline replacement with some of its plans.
These results point to the opportunities that may lay ahead for the new entrants in the Canadian market.
The heads of Globalive, Public Mobile and DAVE will be speaking at The 2009 Canadian Telecom Summit on Wednesday June 17. In addition, we have added an eclectic panel on Tuesday afternoon, June 16, that will be looking at Mobile Marketing and Commerce.
Alec Saunders has a post about Twitter and RSS feeds that caught my eye.
It brought to mind a conversation about Twitter with a friend on Tuesday and our theme was similar: the interplay of Twitter, blogs and RSS feeds. Alec writes:
To say that RSS is dead is to say that the only television worth watching is CNN News. All Anderson, all Sanjay, all Larry, all the time.
I think it’s worth considering some of the messages in a piece that Nicholas Carr wrote last year in Atlantic Monthly, called “Is Google making us Stupid?”
media are not just passive channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought. And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.
With Twitter’s limit of 140 characters, it is Coffee Crisp compared to dining. Twitter makes a nice light snack but it is no replacement for a complete and balanced dinner. Of course, we don’t always have time for a multi-course balanced spread, but I have to think that a diet comprised solely of junk food will catch up to you in time.
By the way, you can follow this blog on RSS or Twitter or the old fashioned way. I doubt I will ever be able to keep to the bite-sized Twitter, but you can always click on the link.
TELUS is teaming up with Microsoft to launch Health Space, letting Canadians securely manage and store their personal health information.
Microsoft Canada president Phil Sorgen is quoted saying:
This marks the first international deployment of Microsoft HealthVault, which accelerates the move toward an online, patient-centric healthcare system, and which will improve the health and wellness of our country’s citizens.
A couple months ago, I wrote about Walmart’s entry into e-Health, powering the upgrading of doctor’s offices.
Phil Sorgen is delivering the keynote address at the end of the first day of The 2009 Canadian Telecom Summit on Monday June 15.
As I mentioned earlier this week, responses to the March 11 Cabinet appeals were submitted on Monday. A few parties cobbled together rushed submissions and at least one group asked for an extension – it is almost as though some groups were reminded of the deadline by this blog!
TELUS summarizes its reply comments with a call for policies that encourage and not discourage investment and innovation.
You cannot expect carriers to make risky investments if they are forced to share new infrastructure at artificially low rates in order to benefit competitors that won’t invest.
CAIP has filed responses that support the MTS Allstream application and call for the Bell and TELUS applications to be denied. In its press release, CAIP said:
Canada is no longer a broadband leader and Canadians are paying higher prices for an inferior product than customers in other OECD countries. If Bell and TELUS prevail, the situation for Canadian customers and businesses will only get worse.
Of course, absent investment in their own infrastructure, it is unclear how ISPs that resell telco DSL access services are driving increased speeds for Canadian consumers. The ILEC argument is that it is precisely the requirement to share their infrastructure that stifles their appetite for risky investment.
The outcome of the cabinet appeals will impact incentives for investment and innovation. What policy will guide carriers building and delivering broadband services to businesses and consumers. How will Canadian broadband networks evolve?
We’re exploring that theme at The 2009 Canadian Telecom Summit on Monday June 15, with a panel of leaders with different approaches in rural and urban settings. What are the roles for fibre, wireless and satellite technologies?
On Tuesday June 16, the Regulatory Blockbuster and the panel on Network Neutrality will look at key issues from a policy perspective. And don’t forget the address by MTS Allstream CEO Pierre Blouin who can be expected to lay out his views on the case before cabinet. The conference opens on June 15 with an address by Rogers’ CEO Nadir Mohamed.
I was referred to an opinion piece by Sara Diamond, president of the Ontario College of Art and Design, in yesterday’s Globe and Mail and I think it merits your review. I’m not sure I agree with the article, but there is an interesting discussion that it launches.
The article asks “Will Canada miss the next wireless revolution?” and suggests that except for a handful of companies, Canadians are sleeping through a dramatic shift in the international economy.
But with the exception of Research In Motion, the Viigo IP Platform, QuickPlay, Marble Media, and a host of bright young micro companies, we don’t get it. Our internal market has been too small to propel a profitable local industry, data rates have been too expensive, appetite for risk and access to Canadian carriers too limited.
Do Canadians really not get it? Does the future belong to these “micro companies”? How can Canadians participate and win in the mobile economy?
Next week, the Information and Communications Forum at University of Toronto is running an executive development program, looking at The Networked Society in 2020, with an objective of trying to identify opportunities for leadership for the Canadian ICT industry.
