In yesterday’s posting, I asked “what kind of focus will the next government place on delivery of Canada’s electronic future?”

As the parties begin to publish their election platforms, I started to look for statements on internet and broadband policy. Here is what I found for the Liberals and Green parties.

The Liberal platform has been released [pdf] and it includes a section that calls for completing the job of making broadband internet service available to rural communities. The Liberals also speak of enhancing legislation to target internet luring.

The Green Party appears to be silent on the subject of expanding access to broadband internet in remote and rural regions. Its platform [pdf] addresses the internet twice: first in the context of deploying resources and tools to combat child pornography and luring; and, secondly, identifying plans to pass legislation

granting the Internet in Canada the status of Common Carrier – prohibiting Internet Service Providers from discriminating due to content while freeing them from liability for content transmitted through their systems.

Apparently, the Green Party has stumbled upon a conspiracy plan:

There are corporations that want to control the content of information on the internet and alter the free flow of information by giving preferential treatment to those who pay extra for faster service.

We’ll be watching for statements from the other major parties over the next week or so.

Comcast has notified the FCC [ pdf] that it is updating its methodology for managing peak loads on its internet service.

According to Comcast, if certain areas near a state of congestion, the company will apply techniques to provide all customers with a fair share of access to the network. Comcast will identify the customer accounts which are using the greatest bandwidth and their Internet traffic will be temporarily managed until the congestion passes. All customers will still be able to do anything online, but they could experience longer times for file downloading or uploading, Web surfing may seem slower, or playing games may seem sluggish.

The new techniques do not manage based on the specific online activities, protocols or applications. Network management only focuses on the heaviest users in real time, so the periods of congestion could be fleeting.

A FAQ is available from Comcast. The new system will be in place before the end of the year.

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Comcast, network management

In the midst of an election, one might ask to what end should our government continue to invest time and effort in development of telecom policy?

What is left to deal with?

At one time, there were a number of critical economic issues tied to Canada’s telecom industry: the sector represented the core of Canada’s industrial R&D; investment; the focus on introducing competition in the development of electronic infrastructure – wireline and wireless, narrowband and broadband; international competitiveness; e-commerce; telemedicine; distance learning; etc.

How have the priority of these policy factors been diminished?

With all of the changes at Nortel in recent days (and over the past few years), Canada continues to risk more jobs being lost to overseas competition. More than 3 years ago, then CEO Bill Owens recognized the threat being posed by the market entry of Chinese suppliers, ZTE and Huawei. Did Nortel and Canadian industrial policy respond appropriately?

In respect of access to broadband infrastructure, there continue to be a number of gaps, as I wrote on Monday: based on geography – the rural and urban digital divide; based on education; based on income; based on age. A policy to improve connectedness must address all of these factors. How boldly will our next government address these factors?

I sometimes wonder if too many people focus on artificial international rankings of connectivity, without considering that connectivity is only part of a pathway, not an end itself.

Connectivity is one of the factors that enables economic renewal – it does not create jobs by itself; connectivity enables strategies that contribute to a reduced carbon footprint – it does not improve greenhouse gas emissions by itself; connectivity enables programs for more cost effective delivery of education, health care and other government programs – but these programs require far more effort than deployment of connectivity.

What kind of focus will the next government place on delivery of Canada’s electronic future? How high will telecom policy rank within the priorities for the next Minister of Industry?

Just a quick shout out to Dimitris at the National Technical University of Athens, who has recently started a blog tracking next generation telecom activity in Europe.

Peter Nowak recently wrote an article about new broadband development in Finland on CBC Online.

In rural markets, customers are looking for access to basic broadband connectivity. In urban centres, there is the drive to increase speeds. What is the most effective way to stimulate broadband? How does government avoid distorting the commercial marketplace and resist the temptation to pick winners?

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next generation networks, Finland, Peter Nowak

One of the more enlightening parts of my recent road trip was the interaction with people from a part of the continent that is often forgotten. The drive from Chicago to Los Angeles goes through a whole lot of wide open space inhabited by people with different experiences which contribute to different perspectives.

There are a lot of people outside the major centres. Many Canadians think of ourselves as living in a more rural nation than our neighbours to the south. The reality is that both Canada and the US have about 1 in 5 residents living in rural areas.

Providing communications to these people is not only a technology challenge, but it also requires a different marketing approach. Back in June, the Statistics Canada Daily released some information about the digital divide.

A remarkable 96% of Canadians 16-24 years old reported using the internet in 2007, versus 29% of seniors (aged 65+). 84% of those with some post-secondary education went on-line, significantly more than the 58% of those with less education.

How well do we understand those differences? While we have spent some time looking at possible solutions for the rural / urban digital divide, election time policy makers should also look at the other major factors: age, education and income.

More tomorrow on next generation networks.

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Statistics Canada, digital divide