Andreas Bernhardt, a member of the Group Executive at Siemens spoke toward the end of day 2 of The Canadian Telecom Summit.

He spoke of Generation X, the post-boomers who roughly cover those born in the 70’s, comfortable and generally raised with computers and technology. But more significantly, he spoke of Generation @: kids with a presumptive knowledge and expectation of the impact and capabilities of information and communications.

Siemens, as an enormous global power, active in a wide array of sectors: healthcare, electronic and automation control, telecom, power, transportation. Among the kinds of things this level of diversity allows is active involvement in machine to machine communications. Understanding the implications of intelligent homes.

I found it interesting that a number of the international speakers, including Sebastiano Tevarotto of HP, and Andreas Bernhardt, spoke of radical simplicity: enabling users to access radically innovative services, without a hint of the enabling complexity facing the end user.

IT Business covered the Minister’s speech.

Reuters couldn’t bring themselves to refer directly to the event. The Minister spoke at “a telecom summit in Toronto.” Are there any others?

Lots of press, lots of stories, lots of buzz. And most important, a great evening of just plain down time at the Rogers Centre to watch the Jays beat the Orioles with perfect evening weather.

Update: The Globe carried a review by Catherine McLean and Simon Tuck of the Minister’s speech with broad reaction from the members of the regulatory panel.

The Post continued its extensive coverage of The Canadian Telecom Summit with another full page, including a story by Kevin Restivo looking at Darren Entwistle’s speech and another by Mark Evans looking at Minister Bernier’s address.

Darren also raised the issue of the Broadcast Review Panel.
Again, 4 recommendations:
– TPR approach of minimalist regulation
– Adopt right of fair use while respecting intellectual properrty rights
– Allow IPTV providers to direct contributions to new media funds
– Set a firm HDTV transition date

Darren Entwistle acknowledged the move to consumer created and shared content and announced TELUS’ intent to lead in content delivery.

Instant gratification. Delivering what younger consumers want, when and how they want it. Games, software, news, information and education.

Update: Talk about instant gratification. This blog posting was made via Blackberry from the Telecom Summit conference floor.

Heckuva morning at The 2006 Canadian Telecom Summit. Sir Terry Matthews, Canada’s enthusiastic teecom entrepreneur delivered a strong message as a lead-in to the annual Regulatory Blockbuster.

Janet and the boys (Mirko, Ken, Jean and Chris) again brought life to a subject that might otherwise not make for entertainment.

Minister Bernier spoke to a packed room, announcing that this morning, the goverment had delivered its first policy direction to the CRTC, instructing it to place market forces at the forefront of its decision-making process.

At lunch, Darren endorsed the Telecom Policy Report, saying the TPR got it right. Darren recommended 4 priorities to the Minister:

– Remove restrictions on win-backs
– Amend Telecom Act to give effect to reliance on market forces
– Enhance regulatory effectiveness by matching CRTC size and skills to the policy approach
– Establish Telecom Competition Tribunal