It was 20 years ago that I was at AT&T; Bell Labs. Back then, we had strong affirmative action programs, in part driven by US government contracts, in part driven by legal cases and to a large extent driven by good business considerations.

At AT&T; in the mid 80’s, we were already competing for business and residential customers. A product development work force composed exclusively of white males was simply not going to be as effective as a design team more reflective of the marketplace. Employment equity was more than just the right thing to do from a legal perspective; employment equity was good business.

Unfortunately, recent data indicates that engineering and technology disciplines have again fallen out of favour among some affected classes and are not producing sufficiently diverse candidates for employment.

At a meeting this past Monday, the comments of participants were off the record. For that reason, I won’t attribute the following, unless I get permission to the contrary. Let me simply note that one of the telecom technology companies indicated that they were working in the lower grades to try to stimulate the pool of students interested in Math, Science and Engineering. Other companies have similar initiatives.

This morning, the Ontario Science Centre is opening TELUSCAPE, a new outdoor exploration plaza. “Where trees light up, a fountain plays music and windmills create colour. Where visitors are encouraged to question everything.”

Let’s hope that these acts of corporate citizenship stimulate a new pool of kids to ask good questions and join the search for answers as they get older.

It’s not just the right thing to do. It’s good for business.

Technorati Tags:
TELUS, Bell Labs, Ontario Science Centre, TELUSCAPE, Mark Goldberg

I used to like tinkering with broken stuff. I’d tinker with a dripping faucet until I got it so broken that we really needed a plumber. Sometimes, it feels better. After all, who wants a professional to come out just to fix a drip? But a broken faucet? My wife would say that while we’re already replacing the faucet, we should redecorate the whole kitchen.

Perhaps as a tribute to the memory of the Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association, the CRTC released a decision on Monday, coinciding with the annual conference of the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance – the association of smaller cable companies.

Decision 2006-58 relieves certain smaller competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) of the requirement to provide equal access to competitive long distance providers. The CRTC has accepted yet another new term into the lexicon: small CLECs. These companies satisfy all three of:

• They are non-dominant Canadian carriers;
• They offer local VoIP services through a reseller; and
• They have fewer than 10,000 local exchange service telecommunications subscribers.

If these conditions are met, then a small CLEC does not have to provide equal access. The CRTC justifies the decision in part by saying “local VoIP service offerings, as currently marketed, do not generally have a discrete long distance component.”

Hmmmm. There must be different ads getting distributed in Hull. While many of the ads for VoIP I see have North America or European bundles, I think all of them have variable rates for the rest of the world. But the Commission has another rationale.

In trying to look at a technology justification,

The Commission notes that the equal access obligation is imposed on the originating carrier of the call and requires an examination of the dialled digits, either at the PSTN level or at the first softswitch of the VoIP provider, to determine whether the call is long distance or local.

What about the problem that all internet voice service providers have for access independent VoIP? Where should equal access interconnection take place for a Bell Digital Voice Lite subscriber, who lives and gets their bill in Montreal, but has a Toronto phone number calling England while sitting in a hotel room in Hong Kong?

The CRTC needed to do this tinkering of its VoIP Decision at the fringe to enable small cable companies to remarket pure reseller VoIP products as part of a bundle.

The problem with their tinkering is that it breaks the CRTC’s sacred principle of technological neutrality. If VoIP is the same as regular voice, what difference does it make that there are less than 10,000 lines? A regular CLEC of the same size, offering traditional voice, has to fulfill all of the obligations, including equal access. How is this technically neutral?

It would have been simpler and cleaner for the CRTC to just remove the equal access obligation for all access independent VoIP services, regardless of the size of the service provider. That approach would have acknowledged that nomadic voice is a lot more like mobile voice. That approach would have been consistent in preserving technological neutrality.

I’ll have my wife call the decorator.

Technorati Tags:
CRTC, CCTA, CCSA, VoIP, Mark Goldberg

As a member of the Nominations Committee, I was pleased to see Canada’s Telecom Hall of Fame release its list of Laureates for 2006. This year’s award dinner will honour 6 individuals who made significant contributions to the telecommunications industry in Canada.

A special award will recognize Nortel’s Digital World initiative from the 1970’s – a program that gave Canada a two-year head-start in digital switching technology and revolutionized telecommunications around the globe.

The individual Laureates are:

• Edward S. “Ted” Rogers (CEO, Rogers Communications Inc.),
• Edward S. Rogers, Sr. (Communications Inventor),
• Donald L. Hings (Inventor of the Walkie Talkie),
• Leila Wightman (Rural Telephone Pioneer),
• Francis Dagger (Public Ownership Advocate for the Prairies), and
• Ernest E. “Ernie” Saunders (Bell Canada)

There are many more worthy individuals and institutions that have been considered and continue to be considered for recognition in the future.

An objective of the Telecom Hall of Fame is

to foster a greater national awareness and appreciation among all Canadians of the outstanding global reputation our country enjoys as a historic leader and innovator in the field of telecommunications.

I’d like to think that among the educational benefits of the Telecom Hall of Fame is to inspire youth to contribute to Canada’s future leadership and innovation in the field.

We need to ensure that the Telecom Hall of Fame isn’t a museum that simply celebrates the greatness of the past.

Over the next few weeks, I’m participating in a number of meetings that promise to examine policies to accelerate Canada’s telecommunications leadership in the future. Stay tuned.

Technorati Tags:
Telecom Hall of Fame, Mark Goldberg

The CRTC’s accelerated process for reassessing the conditions for regulatory forbearance in the local market is proceeding, but it appears that not everyone feels the same sense of urgency to file on time.

Responses were due on Friday for the interrogatories that were posed by the CRTC associated with the original Public Notice.

Most of the information that was filed by parties had claims for confidentiality, because of competitive sensitivity of the market data that was sought by the CRTC.

I am concerned that not all of the industry participants have filed responses. We did not see answers from many of the internet telephone service providers. It may be that some have simply failed to serve copies on all interested parties.

Will the CRTC have enough data to fulfill their requirements to keep the accelerated pace of this review? Will the CRTC take action to enforce its interrogatory process?

Technorati Tags:
CRTC, Local Forbearance, VoIP, Mark Goldberg

Last week, TELUS seemed to own the telecom business press.

4 major announcements: starting last Friday with its broadband capital expansion program, Monday’s income trust, Wednesday’s Ontario government contract win and Thursday’s ground breaking on the $250M Toronto headquarters building. I suspect that members of the press were starting to have trouble running their stories and convincing their editors that they aren’t working for the TELUS PR department.

It is tough work for all the parties, including the reporters who have to find fresh angles for their colour commentary. As a result, both Mark Evans and Catherine McLean picked up on a speculative remark by TELUS CEO that a consumer land line business in Ontario and Quebec, or even international opportunities could represent future sources of growth.

I think these are way, way off into the future, if TELUS goes there at all. There is still a lot of growth to be derived from mobile wireless, both from increased industry-wide penetration of handsets and ARPU enhancement from multi-media content.

Technorati Tags:
TELUS, Mark Evans, Catherine McLean, Mark Goldberg