The 2007 Canadian Telecom Summit

The leaves have started to turn red on some of the trees at our cottage. Packing up this past weekend included putting dustcovers on some of the kitchen appliances. It is a sign of the end of the summer, with only a week to go before the kids head back to school.

The other sign of the end of the summer is that work has already begun on The 2007 Canadian Telecom Summit – June 11-13, 2007. We have already started contacting keynote speakers and we’re building the new website. There will be a new look to the website coming soon, but in the meantime, you can already sign-up for our mailing list – or even register for the conference, if you are really keen!

Drop us a note with your thoughts on panels and speakers that you would like to see.

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Stale dated

In the grocery stores, most products have a ‘Best before’ date stamped on the label, helping consumers ensure that the goods are still fresh. Unfortunately, regulatory filings and studies that are getting submitted to the government are missing such labelling. As a result, we have been seeing some of the same old complaints getting put back on the shelf once again.

Take the idea of the existence of competitive supply of advanced network access facilities, a subject we have written about in the past. One of the expert reports says

In order for a CLEC or IXC to furnish service to any location not connected to CLEC-owned facilities, the use of “last mile” facilities owned by the incumbent are the only option.

The only option? What about electric utility telecoms as an option? What about fixed wireless as an option?

The Telecom Policy Review panel suggested that many of the functions of the CRTC should be absorbed by the Competition Bureau. We may need to get the product labelling branch at the Competition Bureau to review these reports for their ‘Best Before’ dates.

I’d like to hear some fresh viewpoints. Something smells a little off.

While we’re on the topic of freshness, more than a week has past since the submissions were received and still none are posted on the Industry Canada website. OK, it’s summertime, but c’mon folks. You’re making it tough for everyone to be operating here. The other side of the river seems to be able to keep their website current!

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Countdown

Back in May, we wrote about the Federal Cabinet sending VoIP regulation back to the CRTC for a second look.

At the time, the CRTC was given 120 days to respond. Of course, Cabinet didn’t expect us to interrupt the CRTC’s work schedule last week with an urgent internet content issue.

Still, we should be seeing something next week before the Labour Day weekend.

HD comes to Manitoba

At first I thought I read the date on the press release wrong. MTS announced yesterday that it has launched HD-TV on its MTS-TV service. Maybe the World Cup is playing later in the year in the Central time zone?

Seems to confirm my earlier views that HDTV is where cable will beat the telcos unless something disruptive comes along.

Procedural punt

The CRTC has denied our request to permit carriers to block the illegal content originating outside Canada.

It cites procedural grounds.

You can find the press release from Canadian Jewish Congress here.

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