It is conception day. Nine months from now, you will be able to register for Canada’s telemarketing Do Not Call List.

In what is likely its final act of the year, the CRTC has selected Bell Canada to build and operate Canada’s telemarketing DNCL database. The Commission has awarded Bell a 5-year contract, noting that it was the only bidder to have submitted a compliant response to the CRTC’s RFP last summer.

The contract calls for the list to be operating by the end of September, 2008.

Customers who don’t want to wait can take matters into their own hands by switching to Primus, as I wrote earlier this month.

I have noticed an increase in the number of annoying calls from credit card companies and vacation resorts using IVRs and caller ID blocking. It is unclear to me how the DNCL will help. But that is a moot point, considering that the DNCL is mandated by statute. Our parliamentarians had a case of database envy – after all, we wouldn’t want to fall further behind those Americans, could we?

The 2008 Mobile World Congress will be opening in Barcelona, February 11-14. The 2007 event attracted more than 50,000 people.

Canada will have a presence there, with a pavilion hosting a dozen or so firms, as well as stand-alone booths from industry giants such as Nortel and RIM. The current exhibitor listing shows 33 Canadian firms.

CWTA, Export Development Canada and the Canadian Government are sponsoring a breakfast on the Tuesday morning, February 12 and there are other events supporting Canadian companies at MWC2008.

If you plan to attend, be sure to register for the breakfast and tell them you read it here.

Technorati Tags:
MWC2008, CWTA

The CRTC has issued a public notice (PN) that proposes eliminating tariff filings for promotional offerings from incumbent telcos.

The PN talks about the CRTC having received and reviewed a large number of applications proposing promotions, approving most of them within 10 days.

As a result, the Commission is asking for comments on:

… forbearing in whole or in part, either conditionally or unconditionally, from the regulation of promotions for residential and business local wireline services.

… criteria that the Commission could use to establish which service offerings would be considered legitimate promotional service offerings, and therefore, forborne from regulation.

… Given that legitimate promotional service offerings are limited in duration, what duration should be considered appropriate? …

Under what circumstances should a new promotion be considered a continuation of a previous promotion, for example, due to such factors as 1) a very short interval of time between the same offering, and 2) minor variations between offerings?

Ultimately, the objective seems to be streamlining regulatory processes. It is yet another step in the process of letting more normalized market forces govern the telecom market.

Technorati Tags:
forbearance, CRTC

The Alberta Government has named Willie Grieve to be the inaugural chair of the Alberta Utilities Commission, effective February 1, 2008.

The AUC is responsible for the distribution and sale of electricity and natural gas in Alberta. The commission will also be responsible for applications regarding new or upgraded electricity transmission lines.

I first met Willie nearly 17 years ago when he was representing the Government of Saskatchewan and I was working for Unitel. For the past 15 years, Willie has been with TELUS. Our paths have crossed continuously – sometimes agreeing and periodically on opposite sides of various issues. But always amicable and respectful.

Most importantly, I recall teaching him how to discretely wave to our kids during CRTC hearings televised on CPAC [Hint: Watch for lawyers and witnesses adjusting the frames of their glasses].

I was surprised by the announcement that Willie is leaving telecom to go for a government job. I thought Willie’s next job would have been playing jazz trumpet.

Statistics Canada is reporting that Saskatchewan has replaced Alberta as Canada’s fastest growing province.

The province has returned to a population of more than a million for the first time in 6 years.

As a provincial government owned agency, Sasktel operates with an interesting mandate from its shareholder. It has built out high speed internet to every community of more than 200 people and it has invested in upgraded digital wireless in communities that are off the beaten track.

I suspect that some of growth is due to what might be called an Alberta halo effect.

Still, the return to population growth has been enabled by the communications infrastructure put in place by Sasktel, which has been a leader in rolling out a consumer quintuple play.