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Day 3 coverage of #CTS15

June 9, 2015

Here are links to some of the stories that came out of day 3 (June 3) at The 2015 Canadian Telecom Summit:

I’ll update as more articles appear online.

More news from The 2014 Canadian Telecom Summit

June 24, 2014

Here are more stories emerging from The 2014 Canadian Telecom Summit:

Delivering digital infrastructure

May 7, 2014 / 2 Comments

A new report was released last week by the World Economic Forum, written in collaboration with The Boston Consulting Group, “Delivering Digital Infrastructure: Advancing the Internet Economy” [pdf, 6.3MB]. The report is said to be the first to undertake a comprehensive examination of the present threats to digital infrastructure, with input from representatives of government representatives, NGOs, communications services providers, content and digital-services companies, and hardware manufacturers active in the U.S., Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia.

The World Economic Forum’s “Delivering on Digital Infrastructure” initiative “sets the basis for a new vision for digital infrastructure by providing recommendations for policy-makers and industry participants to create a healthier environment for investment and innovation, and offer consumers a digital infrastructure on which they can rely.”

At a time when some people are looking to shape Canadian digital services markets to follow a European model, the report is sharply critical of Europe’s digital health, saying that Europe has gone from digital leader to laggard in less than a decade. “Current industry economics constrain investment in telecommunications infrastructure; consumers pay less for connectivity than in some other countries, but they are missing out on advanced services.”

In the report, policy-makers are urged to improve the infrastructure investment environment by allowing targeted consolidation and the report calls on operators to adapt business models to grow digital services. At the same time, policy-makers are told to encourage innovations taking place in “the last mile” to heighten competition and investment.

How does Canadian policy stack up against these recommendations? What measures do we need to take for Canada to lead in a global digital economy?

A number of sessions will explore these issues at The 2014 Canadian Telecom Summit, June 16-18, in Toronto. Save more than $250 by registering before May 15.

CRTC takes to Twitter to #TalkTV

February 21, 2014

Earlier this week, CRTC Chair JP Blais took to Twitter to have a chat about the second phase of the Commission’s Talk TV consultation.

The chat took place during the Olympic quarter-final men’s hockey game between Canada and Latvia, and the timing itself was the subject of one of the questions.

The tone seemed chippy at times; when the Chairman was asked if the CRTC had the jurisdiction to regulate Netflix, the response wasn’t a simple “yes” or “no”. Instead, the answer was “I don’t want to debate jurisdiction online. See section 4(2) of the Broadcasting Act.”

Let’s look at Section 4(2) of the Broadcast Act.

(2) This Act applies in respect of broadcasting undertakings carried on in whole or in part within Canada or on board

(a) any ship, vessel or aircraft that is

  1. (i) registered or licensed under an Act of Parliament, or
  2. (ii) owned by, or under the direction or control of, Her Majesty in right of Canada or a province;

(b) any spacecraft that is under the direction or control of

  1. (i) Her Majesty in right of Canada or a province,
  2. (ii) a citizen or resident of Canada, or
  3. (iii) a corporation incorporated or resident in Canada; or

(c) any platform, rig, structure or formation that is affixed or attached to land situated in the continental shelf of Canada.

Clear on that?

I’m not sure how many Canadians would be able to readily find the Broadcast Act, let alone understand what spacecraft, ships, vessels or aircraft have to do with a computer app. And that was just the second question asked by a member of the general public.

The question didn’t seem to be baiting the Chair for a debate. It would seem reasonable for a “conversation with Canadians” to be able to get a straight answer to a pretty basic question: In the view of the Chairman of the CRTC, does the Commission have the jurisdiction to regulate Netflix?

I thought it might be helpful to capture the Twitter conversation to make it easily accessible for review.

The following is the English language Twitter chat that took place on February 19, 2014 at 1:00pm [eastern].

Limited disclosure – who is bidding for Canada’s 700 MHz spectrum

September 18, 2013 / 2 Comments

Industry Minister James Moore told Reuters that the government’s wireless policy was focused on the upcoming 700 MHz spectrum auction.

Moore said the government was concentrating on an intensely watched auction of wireless spectrum, where it is encouraging new entrants to challenge the Big Three. “Our policy is the auction and we’ll see what happens through the auction,” he responded.

The Minister declined to provide any information about whether any new foreign companies had submitted bidding papers and preliminary deposits yesterday, saying that the list will be released next Monday.

According to the current auction list of key dates, Monday September 23 is when Industry Canada will publish a list of applicants, their “beneficial ownership and associated entities information”.

We will not get any information about the number of bidding points being sought by each company. That information would provide some insight into the company’s bidding strategy. Pre-auction bid points require $130,000 each; 1221 bid points ($158,730,000) are needed to bid on one paired block across the country. A minimum of 2 bid points are needed to participate in the auction for a prime paired block, or just one point for bidding on an unpaired block – that would let you play in the game for the three territories.

The applications needed to be accompanied by a down payment of only 5% of the bid deposit.

Keep this in mind when the list gets published next week. To appear on the list, companies may have only submitted a check for about $7000.

The balance is due October 29, a week after Industry Canada publishes the list of provisionally qualified bidders. To move from “provisionally qualified” to fully qualified simply requires physically delivering the 95% outstanding balance owed on the bid point deposit. The qualified bidders list will be released November 8, indicating only who has a seat at the table, with no disclosure of the size of their stack of chips.

Applicants can decrease the number of bid points between now and October 29, but they may not increase them.

Not a lot of money was needed to make the preliminary list that will be published next Monday, the provisional list on October 22 and the final list on November 8. Because Industry Canada elected to use anonymous bidding, there will be no information released about activity by each company during the auction.

Once the auction has concluded we will hear who the winners are and how much money was spent. We may not know much about what is happening for the next 6 months.

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