My first exposure to competitive telecommunications was when I moved to Detroit in 1984 to work as a Bell Canada International consultant advising General Motors on telecommunications issues. At the time, GM was building out a global network, connecting its facilities worldwide in the wake of AT&T;’s divestiture.

Fast forward 23 years. Yesterday, GM announced one of the largest commercial contracts in AT&T;’s history, awarding a five-year global networking and management contract worth nearly $1 billion.

AT&T; will be responsible for managing the performance of key regional telecommunications providers around the world in addition to network management responsibility for participating telephone companies to drive consistent, uniform IT service delivery and support.

Many local carriers have been actively pursuing the Canadian portion of the GM network.

AT&T; will have a senior member of its leadership team addressing The 2007 Canadian Telecom Summit in June. In addition, AT&T; is sponsoring the cocktail reception on Monday June 11.

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AT&T;, GM, Canadian Telecom Summit

The National Post carried a statement from a TELUS spokesperson in relation to the mobile porn fiasco that needs some clarification. The quote says:

Telus blocks illegal child pornography sites in co-operation with Cybertip.ca, a project that protects children from sexual exploitation sponsored by Canadian Internet service providers.

“Any other material on the Web, we are not allowed to block unless a judge orders it.”

TELUS is not yet blocking Cybertip-identified content, but it is working on implementing the network equipment to effect the blocking capability. While Cybertip identifies content as likely being illegal, their process does not include a judicial finding.

A judge is not required to for TELUS to block “any other content.” The CRTC has that power.

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TELUS, illegal content, CRTC, Cybertip.ca

A unifying thread, linking cellular subscribers around the world, seems to be that people want lower rates. No matter what you are paying, it is human nature to want to pay less.

In Europe, with competitive wireless service providers driving better than 100% penetration, consumer group BEUC is calling for regulatory intervention because of high roaming fees.

The issue for the Bureau Européen des Unions de Consommateurs are the rates charged to consumers when they are out of their home country. BEUC commissioned a study that showed fees have not come down, despite new roaming schemes introduced last summer under threat of EU-wide price limits.

For Canadian cellular customers travelling internationally, it is small comfort to hear that Europeans are also complaining.

A Toronto-based colleague of mine was in Florida last week and he saved hundreds of dollars in roaming fees by picking up a T-Mobile pre-paid phone on arrival. For $50 (US), he was given a new handset and 450 anytime minutes to call or receive calls anywhere in the US. The minutes expire in 90 days, but when he adds just $50 more to his account, his minutes will be good for 12 months. Total cost: $100 for 12 months, 1000 minutes. No system access fees. No monthly charges. No contract. Additional minutes are around 10 cents or less.

Can someone tell me which Canadian rates are comparable?

Technorati Tags:
BEUC, roaming, mobile, T-Mobile

Typically, when you get a cell phone from your carrier, it is locked to their network. The rationale, I suppose, is tied to the subsidy that is implicit in your multi-year contract. The $49 phone obviously costs much more, but the price is subsidized by the carrier that you sign up with.

But, why can’t consumers use their phone with another carrier? After all, the contract commits the customer to keep paying. The subsidy will get recovered. And what about customers that don’t want a contract? Or who pay full price for their phone?

Is it legal to get the phone unlocked? Many independent dealers will unlock your phone for a negotiable fee. Unlocking a GSM phone allows a user to pop any SIM into the phone, enabling more controllable costs when travelling, avoiding often outrageous roaming fees.

The US copyright office recently had two rulings that affect this. One was to rule that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act covers the software lock on the phone, meaning that it would be an offense to tamper with the access control technology absent a specific exemption. However, they also granted precisely that exemption.

What are the rules in Canada? Who owns your cell phone?

Technorati Tags:
GSM, DMCA, wireless