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This past August, Industry Canada launched its “Consultation on Policy Changes in the 3500 MHz Band (3475-3650 MHz) and a New Licensing Process in Rural Areas“. At the time, Industry Minister James Moore said:

Our government committed to putting unused spectrum licences to use, and today we are following through on that pledge. Today’s announcement also means that rural communities will benefit from enhanced access to high-speed Internet services. We will continue to put the interests of consumers first to ensure that Canadians have more choice and better services from their wireless service providers.

While there were good intentions to improve Internet service in rural communities through the proposed new rules, in fact, something went awry. There were sections in the consultation that appeared to be taking spectrum being used by rural ISPs and re-purposing the frequencies from fixed wireless to mobile. The potential impact would be to turn off high-speed fixed wireless internet service to large swaths of rural Canada.

Canada’s rural broadband service providers were taken by surprise. Xplornet, Canada’s largest rural internet service provider, was quick to point out a “fundamental disconnect” between the Minister’s statement and the proposal:

Under the proposal, Industry Canada would take away from rural Internet service providers, like Xplornet, the spectrum that is already in use today for the benefit of Canadians, and give it to the cell phone providers who are sitting on stock piles of un-deployed spectrum in these areas.

As the implications started to sink in, rural providers warned that hundreds of thousands of rural Canadians – rural voters – could have their internet disconnected, and could be forced back onto dial-up.

In the past, Minister Moore has communicated his desire for a “use it or lose it” policy when it comes to spectrum. Such a policy takes back spectrum that is not being deployed by the licensee. The current consultation however, contained provisions that meant rural internet service providers could effectively “use it AND lose it”.

How?

Because significant stretches of rural areas were being re-designated as “urban” under the proposed policy and a subsequent re-allocation of spectrum would mean rural ISPs that bought and paid for newly re-designated “urban” spectrum would lose it in order for mobile providers to have more spectrum for “future use”. Remember, this was spectrum that was originally designated as Fixed Wireless Access, specifically for uses like high-speed broadband, not mobile.

Comments in response to the consultation were due October 8. I have heard from a number of ISPs and a large number of rural communities and municipal associations in areas affected by the proposed policy, that they submitted comments urging Industry Canada not to take back the spectrum being used to deliver much needed fixed wireless broadband to thousands of rural constituents. Many of those communities most affected are in the heartlands of traditional federal Conservative support.

On October 9, Minister Moore issued a statement:

On August 19, 2014, Industry Canada launched a consultation asking Canadians for their views on how best to use the 3500 MHz band of spectrum, which is the spectrum band that represents the most affordable wireless high-speed Internet access for many rural Canadians.

Since then, I have received thoughtful feedback from local municipalities, Internet service providers and individual Canadians. Regrettably, some have falsely suggested that this consultation will somehow result in rural Canadians losing broadband services.

These suggestions are completely false. Under no circumstances will our government take spectrum licences away from any local Internet service provider that is providing Internet service to rural Canadians.

The decisions resulting from this consultation will ensure that the 3500 MHz spectrum band is deployed in the best interests of Canadian consumers, especially those living in rural areas.

Without this statement, the potential for rural Canadians to lose broadband was very real. The reclassification of many Tier 4 areas as “urban” (per Section 6 and Annex A of the consultation), despite a preponderance of rural Canadians in these areas, meant the spectrum being used for internet service was at risk of being taken away from that use. Rural Canadians might have been disconnected from the digital world.

The Minister’s statement provides a welcome clarification: “Under no circumstances will our government take spectrum licences away from any local Internet service provider that is providing Internet service to rural Canadians.”

It was a quick response, assuring communities that rural broadband subscribers will not be sacrificed to feed the insatiable hunger for mobile spectrum.

Most importantly, the Minister’s statement demonstrates that the consultation process works. Minister Moore clearly heard the comments from regions across Canada, and took the important step of acknowledging and responding positively to their concerns.

It was the right thing to do to reassure Canadians.

Still, the devil is in the details.

In the final policy and licensing framework, how will Industry Canada reconcile the Minister’s words from his October 9th statement, with the clear wording that was contained in the August consultation document?

Will Industry Canada re-write the proposals to grandfather spectrum holdings to ISPs that have deployed service already?

Broadband service for hundreds of thousands of rural Canadians is at stake. In responding to the consultation, the affected rural communities have shown that they can be mobilized over this issue.

How will the final policy and licensing framework reflect the Minister’s commitment to continuity of fixed wireless broadband service?

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Update [October 30, 11:00 pm]: At long last, Industry Canada has posted the Comments that were submitted for the October 8 deadline. The Reply phase has been extended from November 5 to November 17 because of the delay in making the initial comments available. The Comments appear to overwhelmingly focus on the initial consultation plans to re-purpose spectrum from rural broadband to mobile, which led to the Minister’s “clarification.”

The submitted comments represent a remarkable outpouring from rural communities. More than 150 municipalities and county associations sent comments against the original proposal, many comments closing with a simple but effective message: “Please do not take away internet service from rural residents”.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently wrote in the Wall Street Journal that connecting everyone on the planet to the web can create opportunity and reduce poverty. It sets out a noble vision and it is an article worth reading.

Sometimes, I am left with a feeling of concern for Canada’s ability to lead in the digital economy.

It has nothing to do with our abilities to be creative, innovative, entrepreneurial, faster-to-market or any other characteristic.

It isn’t even a matter of government incentives. Indeed, if anything, my concern is that our government may sometimes be too eager to intrude.

Digital Canada 150 – Canada’s national digital strategy – is the product of three years of examination of thousands of pages of feedback following an extensive consultation process. The consultation sought input on 26 issues caught under 6 broad headings. Of the 26 pages in the pdf version of Digital Canada 150, 5 pages are the cover, printer notes, table of contents and letters from the Prime Minister and Industry Minister.

Europe released a digital scorecard looking at where it stands on targets in its digital agenda. What does Canada’s scorecard look like?

In the past week or so, the government announced it was moving forward on its Connecting Canadians program to spend nearly a third of a billion dollars to try to stimulate investment by ISPs to enable uninspiring broadband speeds to be available to rural and remote communities:

Over 99 percent of Canadian households currently have access to basic Internet with speeds of 1.5 Mbps, but newer online technologies typically require faster speeds and higher data transfer rates. Through Connecting Canadians, the government will boost speeds to 5 Mbps for up to 98 percent of Canadians.

Earlier today, Xplornet announced that it will beat those targets, offering 5 times the speed to all Canadian households:

CRTC and Industry Canada have forged a vision and an action plan to ensure all Canadians have equal access to high speed broadband. Xplornet has embraced this vision and is executing a plan to provide customers outside big cities with the most attractive Internet experience that technology can provide. Xplornet has started rolling out a new Long Term Evolution (LTE) fixed-wireless network this year and will activate two state of the art next generation satellites in 2016 with the aim of making 25 Mbps broadband service available at affordable prices to 100% of Canadian homes and businesses outside of the big urban cities.

Over the past year, I have written a number of pieces (such as “Measuring success” and “Inconsistent messages; predictable turmoil” and “Building a digital economy dashboard“) that call for the government to provide clear, measurable objectives for our digital policy agenda.

Two of the questions in the Digital Economy Strategy consultation asked by the government itself were directly related to this:

Improving Canada’s Digital Advantage

• Should we set targets for our made-in-Canada digital strategy? And if so, what should those targets be?
• What should the timelines be to reach these targets?

I have said it a number of times. “Set clear objectives. Align activities with the achievement of those objectives. Stop doing things that are contrary to the objectives.”

It is encouraging to see the Connecting Canadians program begin with a data gathering process. To get where you want to go, it helps to know where you are starting from.

Last week, the CRTC recognized the wide disparity in internet adoption rates based on income among Canadians:

The use of the Internet by individuals in households in the lowest income quartile continues to lag, at 62%, compared with 95% of individuals living in households in the highest income quartile.

It has been too easy for the government to focus on programs to stimulate the supply of internet. We need to examine programs that look at demand – increasing computer ownership and broadband adoption among low income households, especially in homes with school aged children.

Canada’s digital future depends on such inclusiveness and opportunity for all.

In some ways, the year 2013 seems to have finished where we started. There was a lot of noise in between January and December, but on one key front, nothing changed.

Last year, in my first post of the year 2013, I wrote:

It is the beginning of a new year. A chance to make a fresh start.

So perhaps, it is time for us to take a fresh look at a long overdue file, the national digital strategy.

Michael Geist led off his year-end column in the Toronto Star asking:

Will the government finally unveil a national digital strategy?

The long-promised national digital strategy could become a reality in 2014 after years of inaction. Industry Minister James Moore is on the verge of clearing out the lingering policy issues he inherited and may be ready to set his own path on a digital strategy.

Over the past few years, I have asked that question frequently. As I noted last year, operating without a formal strategy, it is hard to point to any catastrophic failures in our ability to compete relative to the rest of the world, but that is hardly an encouraging statement of leadership.

Let’s not confuse a digital economy strategy with a need to hand out cash for digital infrastructure or other forms of government spending, despite the political attractiveness of a photo with a ceremonial over-sized cheque. Releasing a digital strategy does not need to cost billions of dollars; it needs clear, consistent statements of objectives.

For example, while digital services adoption is a metric that is commonly used in global rankings, most people seem to focus on only one variable in the calculation: the supply side. As a result, we have seen billions of tax dollars thrown toward broadband infrastructure in remote regions, with ever diminishing returns. In some cases, close to $10,000 per household have been handed out in subsidies, permanently disrupting the business case for competitive supply of services. The private sector has already been investing in infrastructure, including billions of dollars in rural markets, delivering the supply side of the adoption calculus.

Instead, we need to promote demand. We need more programs like Rogers Connect For Success to provide low income Canadian households with affordable access to a connected home computer. [It was nearly 6 years ago that I first suggested that we should consider computers and connectivity as part of Canada’s social safety net.]

Digital adoption is just one element of a national strategy. Digital literacy is another. The original consultation asked 26 questions under 6 broad headings:

• Innovation Using Digital Technologies
• Digital Infrastructure
• Growing the ICT Industry
• Canada’s Digital Content
• Building Digital Skills
• Improving Canada’s Digital Advantage

The consultation created a table of contents for a document that we have waited 3 years to be delivered.

In May 2010, three Ministers of the Crown stood together to launch the consultation, saying “Canada can and should be a leader in the global digital economy. Now is the time for the private sector to step up and contribute their ideas for a digital strategy and, when that strategy is in place, to implement the plan.” Nearly four years have passed since that call for action.

Two previous Industry Ministers failed to deliver a plan for the private sector to implement.

Over the past year, I have stated a pretty simple leadership formula: Set clear objectives. Align activities with the achievement of those objectives. Stop doing things that are contrary to the objectives.

In the next two weeks, bidding will start in the multi-billion dollar 700 MHz spectrum auction [January 14] and Industry Minister James Moore will celebrate his 6-month anniversary of his appointment [January 15].

Isn’t it time for Canada to set clear objectives to guide the development of a digital economy?

At The 2013 Canadian Telecom Summit, Rogers Communications President Rob Bruce announced “Connected for Success”, a program to provide affordable computers and connectivity to low income households.

Rogers launched a pilot program in Toronto Community Housing in late August. The program provides a refurbished computer for just $150 and internet connectivity for only $10 per month.

In just four months, 2000 households have already taken up the offer, representing a strong growth in internet adoption for Rogers in the buildings.

Connected for Success seeks to provide an affordable Internet solution for youth, seniors, singles, and families; about 10% – 15% of participating households have seniors as the primary users.

Connected for Success is succeeding. In 2014, will other carriers join Rogers in offering solutions to bring more disadvantaged Canadians online?

As the year spins by, it is traditional to reflect on the past year and look forward to brighter days, making resolutions for the year ahead.

What a year it has been!

There has actually been progress on a resolution I made 2 years ago.

As was announced at the opening of The Canadian Telecom Summit, Rogers launched a pilot program to get affordable connected computers into low income households. As Rob Bruce said at the time:

It’s unfathomable that Canadians are living without internet access today because they simply cannot afford it. With Connected for Success we’ve taken the first step to connect youth and we urge our competitors, our partners and communities to work with us to bridge Canada’s digital divide.

There is still a long way to go. More areas of the country need to work on the demand side of the equation for broadband adoption. Kids have to have access to broadband connectivity and home computing in order to succeed in school. Let me reiterate Rob’s call for Rogers’ competitors, partners and communities across the country to work to bridge the divide.

I wrote 132 blog posts this year, down slightly from 139 in 2012. Too many of these were written during the summer, the summer of wireless discontent. There has been a lot of misinformation and name calling over the past six months; I think it is time to move forward on constructive dialog to build a more digitally enabled Canada.

There is a rabbinic tale of a man who spread tales about another. Feeling regret, he asked his rabbi how to make amends. The rabbi sent him out to store to buy a bag of seeds, telling him to go to an open field to scatter the seeds into the wind and then return a week later. The man did as he was told, and when he went back a week later, the rabbi told him “Now, go back to that field and pick up all the seeds you spread.” The man told the rabbi that he would never be able find all the seeds, let alone recover them. With that, the man understood that the damage from his words, spread far and wide, might never be fully undone.

As Joni Mitchell sang, “We can’t return, we can only look behind from where we came.” Still, as the carousel goes round and round, we can raise the level of the debate, stop the name calling, deal in issues at an appropriate level of depth and analysis, far beyond what can be captured in a 140 character tweet.

In the coming year, we need to ensure that the right policy framework is in place to encourage the private sector to make multi-billion dollar investments in digital infrastructure. We need to address issues of digital adoption and increase digital literacy among low income Canadians and small and medium sized businesses. We need serious discussion of serious issues including better analysis of potential unintended consequences.

And I still need to lose 20 pounds.

Have a safe, healthy and peaceful holiday season. I look forward to engaging with you in 2014. Together, hopefully we can exceed all our targets.