I am attending a demonstration today hosted by Ericsson Canada, showing off a series of technologies, applications, and innovations designed to be the foundation of future high speed wireless access.

Ericsson is bringing up the same team demonstrated these capabilities at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona earlier this year.

According to their invitation, to give an idea of the scope of this demo, Ericsson had to apply to Industry Canada for permission to use additional spectrum.

Besides the obvious advantages of increased access speed (equaling, and often surpassing, present high speed wired capabilities), the technologies is purported to enable more seamless interaction between devices like TVs, PCs and mobile phones; the creation of realistic virtual communities (with IM, talk, and video); and, improved communications for professions that need fast, accurate information across a myriad of devices.

I wonder if Bell and TELUS are the real targets for this Canadian demonstration.

I’ll report more after seeing it all up close and personal.

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Update [July 10, 10:55 am]
Mark Henderson, CEO of Ericsson Canada, announced that his Montreal research centre is adding 200 new positions. Much of Ericsson’s IMS platform development is conducted here in Canada. Nice to see Canadian expansion when so many companies are shipping jobs off-shore.

The IMS IPTV demo, across mobile and fixed screens, caught my eye as a precursor to next generation video. It is a way for telcos to change the rules of the game from broadcast TV, or for integrated cable / mobile operators like Rogers to stay on top.

Let’s watch to see how much traction this gets.

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Ericsson

Reply comments for the AWS consultation were submitted to Industry Canada at the end of June and it has taken me some time to get to read them. Part of the problem was accessing the website – through no fault of Industry Canada – my Inukshuk-based internet is having some trouble reaching ic.gc.ca addresses.

I gave up and used my Blackberry as a modem to download about a dozen of the filings. I’ll be providing some reviews over the coming days and weeks.

The possibility of a TELUS/Bell merger caused Sasktel to rethink its position and ensure that its independent needs were looked after.

SaskTel did not promote the use of “set aside” provisions in the first round of consultations. However, if a set aside is enacted, SaskTel as an experienced telephone company should not be unduly hampered in its options to grow, expand and to provide new services outside of its current serving areas just because of traditional convenience in regulatory treatments.

As I wrote last month, hopefully, Bell Aliant’s independent trustees have also been looking at their wireless options in order to protect unit-holders from various future scenarios for industry dynamics.

The Bracebridge Business Improvement Area (BIA) is looking at developing a wireless network to cover the downtown of this central Muskoka town. The objective is to “increase the attractiveness of Downtown Bracebridge for visitors while at the same time providing a direct benefit to BIA members.” Proposals are due on August 1.

Inukshuk wireless internet is available on the lake through Rogers Portable Internet or Sympatico Unplugged. Barrett Xplorenet is also available through a local agent.

Still, I have found myself going into a shop looking for a couple minutes of access time, so the objective is understandable.

Tuesday’s Toronto Star ran a story about the Toronto Hydro WiFi project that might create some points for discussion as Bracebridge moves forward.

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WiFi, Bracebridge

One of the lesser reported aspects of this week’s Do Not Call List (DNCL) Decision from the CRTC is the application of the rules to voice mail marketing.

Hopefully, this will spell the end of junk voice mail.

The CRTC rejected a proposal to ban voice mail marketing altogether and also rejected a broad ban on depositing messages on cellular voice mail (which may have been an administrative nightmare now that portability is in place). Instead, customers registering on the database will be sufficient to end the scourge.

I don’t mind getting live calls about duct cleaning, lawn care or window replacement offers. I can get rid of those calls pretty quickly when I am not in the market. But, I have no use for Boris the mover, prizes of Collingwood vacations, or other people that activate my message waiting indicator.

Enforcement of junk voice mail violations (as with junk faxes) should be simple: the evidence will be recorded. At $15,000 per message, offending companies won’t be around very long.

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CRTC, voice mail, DNCL, fax

One of the benefits of summertime is the opportunity to catch up on reading.

On Tuesday, I spoke of the FTC’s recent paper on Net Neutrality. One of my regular blog readers pointed me to an OECD overview of Internet Traffic Prioritisation that was prepared a year ago but only released to the public in April.

The OECD report identifies the following points in its executive summary:

A market-based solution is preferable to intervention in the market as a way to deal with issues regarding traffic prioritisation. However, it may be helpful for governments to publish a set of general principles for market participants. If problems occur, ex-post remedies can be used. The decision to apply ex-ante regulation will depend on whether regulators find evidence of persistent problems in the context of traffic prioritisation and if market forces or ex-post solutions are unable to sufficiently protect consumers. There is considerable debate about whether significant anti-competitive problems will appear in markets. There is little evidence of anti-competitive conduct to date and problems have typically been resolved quickly via market forces or through quick regulatory intervention in markets where they have appeared.

There are some recommended regulatory principles suggested by the OECD as steps that policy makers could take to reduce incentives for anti-competitive behaviour:

1. Reducing entry barriers that inhibit entry in the broadband Internet access market.
2. Re-examining existing competition laws to ensure they can address any abusive practices that could appear under a multi-tiered Internet structure.
3. Ensuring that subscribers can switch operators easily.
4. Improving disclosure to broadband consumers of how their broadband Internet service is affected by packet prioritisation.

The OECD paper suggests that it may be premature for governments to get involved in network-to-network traffic exchange, an issue raised in Canada by the Quebec ISPs. Further, many have expressed concern about neutral access for content providers which the paper suggests, along with the concerns of smaller, start-up firms, could be addressed through the pooling of demand for Internet access via a common ISP.

The paper seems to be another voice for a market forces approach for net neutrality.