Telecommunications policy issues moved back into the mainstream news with last week’s tabling of Bill C-27, the Electronic Commerce Protection Act.

It is certain to be one of many issues under discussion at The 2009 Canadian Telecom Summit, June 15-17 in Toronto.

Net Neutrality is going to figure prominently with its own discussion on June 16.

Dave Caputo Sandvine

Mike Lee Rogers

Chris Libertelli Skype

The 2009 Canadian Telecom Summit takes place just 3 weeks before the CRTC’s hearings examining internet network management and the event will include a discussion featuring 3 prominent industry leaders who will articulate the arguments on all sides of the issue: Dave Caputo (Sandvine); Mike Lee (Rogers); and, Chris Libertelli (Skype). The session is certain to provide a preview of the debate that will unfold in front of the regulator in July.

Other sessions will be examining the services, technologies, consumer & business trends and regulatory & policy initiatives that continue to shape the industry. More than 50 experts will participate in panel discussions to explore areas such as New Media, Social Networking, Broadband Delivery, Unified Communications, Net Neutrality and Mobile Evolution.

If you are interested in telecommunications, you need to attend The 2009 Canadian Telecom Summit. Mark the dates on your calendar: June 15-17.

Come meet with leaders from services and equipment suppliers, applications developers, policy makers, regulators and major customers.

Book your seat early: Register now: www.telecomsummit.com

Download the complete conference brochure here.

Technorati Tags:
net neutrality, Canadian Telecom Summit

I am told that one of the great advantages of internet media over the print form is the ability to have a conversation with the readers.

This blog generally doesn’t get a lot of comments. Perhaps it is because of the nature of the readership I have attracted. I generally enjoy receiving comments – even those that take a strong opposing viewpoint.

But I have little patience for personal attacks. Most of the rejected comments have been cheap shots. Comments that attack me are one thing; I will not publish comments that attack the integrity of my colleagues.

A couple years ago, I wrote about “4 Degrees of Impersonal Communications“:

Paradoxically, we seem to take more care in communications when the conversation can most easily be private and candid. Conversely, we pay less attention to etiquette and courtesy when the audience is global and of diuturnal impact.

In the impersonal space of the cyber-world, are we seeing a deterioration of respectful social intercourse? Is it a necessary accommodation that we need to make in order to extend the accessibility of information to all?

I started to moderate comments a number of months ago in order to filter out the spam – people using blog comments to advertise their own websites. I then tried to eliminate some of the garbage through removal of anonymous posts.

I have now disabled comments entirely, because I have decided to hang up on the garbage. I use the same approach when I get an unsolicited phone call. If you want, you can still reach me by email or by phone or I am always up for a conversation over coffee or lunch.

I still prefer the civility and intellectual engagement of first degree interactions.

Andrew Willis writes in a story called “Dialing up wireless deals” that Rogers, Bell and TELUS may be likely acquirers of one or more of the new AWS competitors, as the entrants look for funding to build out their new networks.

Public Mobile seems likely to end up being acquired by one of the incumbents: Rogers Communications, BCE or Telus. He casts DAVE – short for Data & Audio-Visual Enterprises Wireless – and Yak owner Globalive as potential merger partners.

Of course, regular readers of this blog will recall that there is a poison pill in place for the new entrants:

While all licence transfers must be approved by the Minister, licences obtained through the set-aside may not be transferred to companies that do not meet the criteria of a new entrant for a period of 5 years from the date of issuance.

Public Mobile, acquired spectrum in the G-block, which was not part of the set-aside, so this clause does not apply to them.

Wireless competition will be a major theme at The 2009 Canadian Telecom Summit in Toronto. The leaders of DAVE Wireless, Globalive and Public Mobile will all be appearing June 17 on a panel being moderated by Simon Avery of The Globe and Mail. Have you registered yet?

The Associated Press is reporting that two friends in Pennsylvania exchanged 217,000 SMS messages, resulting in an itemized bill for $26,000 for one, despite both of them subscribing to unlimited texting plans.

T-Mobile waived the charges while it is investigating.

You have to wonder what else the two, 29 and 30 years old, had time to do in March. Perhaps they are unemployed as a result of the economy: alternatively, they are about to be unemployed when their bosses realize that they weren’t focussed on work for the last month!

Before you try to break their new record, check to see if your service provider’s terms of service has any asterisks beside the word “unlimited”.

Technorati Tags:
SMS, T-Mobile

One of the new sessions at this year’s Canadian Telecom Summit will be looking at how to make better use of information that is buried within service providers’ systems. We call the session “Mining for data gold” and it is a panel being moderated by my long time friend and colleague Mike Shulist.

The panel has an cast of global leaders in telecom information systems: Michael Couture (Head of Global Marketing, Amdocs), Victor Garcia (CTO, HP Canada), Zarar Rana (CEO, ConceptWave Software), Duby Yoely (VP, TTI Telecom), Bohdan Zabawskyj(CTO, Redknee) and Kelly Hlavinka (Partner, Colloquy). You will hear from these people how service providers are able to increase their revenues from existing clients, and better target offers to attract new customers.

The full conference brochure can be downloaded here [ pdf, 284 KB].

Global communications industry leaders are coming to Toronto from June 15-17 to join Canada’s most important annual gathering. Have you registered yet?

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Canadian Telecom Summit