Nortel CTO John Roese set out 4 predictions for 2008 in his blog posting this week. He invites his readers to provide their thoughts on what we might expect to see in telecom and IT in 2008.

In many ways, these predictions resonate with some of the themes that I have laid out over the past year:

1. The arrival of WiMax and LTE
2. Unified Communications overtaking VoIP
3. Spectrum Policy diversity leads to multi-mode devices
4. Cranking it up a notch for wireline and optical internet

I have written extensively about Barrett Xplore rolling out wireless broadband solutions to under-served parts of the country. Will WiMax and other fixed wireless technologies, coupled with satellite, provide the solution to universal accessibility to broadband?

Unified Communications allows VoIP to deliver more than PoIP – POTS over IP. Martha Bejar from Microsoft will be delivering the closing keynote address on the first day of The Canadian Telecom Summit, June 16.

We have now seen T-Mobile and AT&T; leverage their WiFi hot-spot assets as a means to supplement mobile data networks. In Canada, the wireless carriers have not yet seen WiFi as a competitive differentiator; instead, to date, WiFi assets have been made available to each other’s customers. Will unlimited data plans bring a change to how WiFi is strategically deployed in Canada?

A year ago this week, Videotron launched DOCSIS 3.0 powered 100Mbps cable modem service. Which of the Canadian telephone companies will be first to follow Verizon into a residential fibre optic based solution? Robert Depatie of Videotron will again be a keynote speaker at The Canadian Telecom Summit on June 18.

What other themes do you think will emerge in 2008?

The CRTC’s decision earlier this week (2008-6) has a clear listing of Telemarketing rules in its Appendix.

These are actually quite useful for consumers and callers alike as a single collection point for all of the current regulations applying to unsolicited calls, whether from live humans, fax broadcasts or those pesky automatic dialing announcement devices.

Among other items, it clarifies the requirements for those fax broadcast people who, I think get paid by the maker of my fax machine (in order to help them sell more toner cartridges).

A telemarketer sending a fax telemarketing telecommunication shall clearly provide the following information at the top of the first page in font size 12 or larger:

(a) the name of the telemarketer sending the fax, whether the telemarketing telecommunication is made on its own behalf or on behalf of a client of the telemarketer;

(b) the name of the client when the telemarketing telecommunication is being made on behalf of a client of the telemarketer;

(c) the originating date and time of the fax;

(d) a voice and a fax telecommunications number that allows access to an employee or other representative of the telemarketer and, where applicable, the client of the telemarketer, for the purpose of asking questions, making comments about the telemarketing telecommunication, or making or verifying a do not call request; and

(e) the name and address of an employee or other representative of the telemarketer and, where applicable, the client of the telemarketer, to whom the consumer can write for the purpose of asking questions, making comments about the fax, or making or verifying a do not call request.

Right. I have never received this much information in the entire junk fax, let alone all at the top in “font size 12”.

Like voice-based telemarketers, how will any of these rules stop unwanted communications that originate off-shore? Why is there no clear statement that simply states that all clients need to register and need to ensure that telemarketing performed on their behalf conforms to these rules?

Technorati Tags:
CRTC, telemarketing

AT&T (NYSE: T) has called for Canada to relax its foreign investment restrictions.

According to AT&T, the current rules are the most restrictive of any country in the OECD and the rules

impose inefficiencies in the delivery of critical telecommunications services that harm consumer and business users throughout Canada’s economy and limit economic growth in Canada.

AT&T’s proposed remedy for the restrictions to be eliminated completely, or as an interim alternative, that foreign ownership restrictions be relaxed for telecommunications services providers with market share of less than 10% in any telecom services market.

AT&T’s submission points out the lack of symmetry with relaxed US rules that have enabled T-Mobile USA, wholly owned by German Deutsche Telekom, to become a significant market player south of the border.

AT&T’s submission includes references to Canadian studies (such as the Telecom Policy Review Panel and the Commons Committee on Industry, Science and Technology) that appear to contradict some of the assertions set out in the CRTC’s position paper, the subject of yesterday’s posting.

A senior leader of AT&T will be delivering a keynote address at The Canadian Telecom Summit in June.

Technorati Tags:
ATT, Competition Policy

Billboard has the full text of yesterday’s speech given by U2 manager Paul McGuinness at the MIDEM conference in Cannes.

His remarks call for ISPs to get involved in the policing of the content being carried across their network.

Despite selling their broadband service on the basis of sharing photos and sending emails, McGuinness says that music sharing – illegal music sharing – is the killer app that justifies $25 broadband.

In his speech, he says that Radiohead’s widely reported ‘honesty box’ demonstrates that given the choice to get music for free from an authorized site, the majority will still steal using other peer-to-peer applications.

It’s time for a new approach — time for ISPs to start taking responsibility for the content they’ve profited from for years.
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For ISPs in general, the days of prevaricating over their responsibilities for helping protect music must end. The ISP lobbyists who say they should not have to “police the internet” are living in the past — relying on outdated excuses from an earlier technological age.
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And as it turned, the “Safe Harbour” concept was really a Thieves’ Charter. The legal precedent that device-makers and pipe and network owners should not be held accountable for any criminal activity enabled by their devices and services has been enormously damaging to content owners and developing artists. If you were publishing a magazine that was advertising stolen cars, processing payments for them and arranging delivery of them you’d expect to get a visit from the police wouldn’t you? What’s the difference?

Technorati Tags:
U2, Paul McGuinness, illegal content

With a little bit of linguistic gymnastics, the CRTC sided with Videotron in the dispute that I wrote about last week.

Recall that the dispute goes back to a Bell complaint that Videotron’s installation practices result in Bell having to roll a truck if the location ever wants to reconnect to Bell service.

As I suggested last week, the Commission reached a conclusion in just a week:

In this Decision, the Commission determines that Vidéotron ltée’s proposed disconnection practices when disconnecting Bell Canada’s network from a residential customer’s inside wire are not unreasonable. Accordingly, the Commission denies Bell Canada’s application.

You just have to learn to love the double negative of regulatory decisions!