What a Week that Was!
It seems as though each year the Canadian Regulator (CRTC) and/or Industry Canada (IC) uses the Canadian Telecom Summit as the venue for anxiously-awaited policy announcements. And this, the 13th year of CTS (held June 3 thru 5 in Toronto) was no exception.
On Tuesday June 4, after months of deliberation following public hearings in February, CRTC Chairman, Jean-Pierre Blais announced, as of December 2, 2013, a new wireless code that will allow consumers to cancel their mobile contracts after two years even if they have signed for a longer term, and also place $50 and $100 caps on data overage and roaming charges (respectively). Reaction to the announcement was swift. While user groups welcomed the code and incumbent service providers were more cautious, others wondered about the effect the code might have on device subsidies (normally amortized over three years) and plan pricing in general. Service providers such as Rogers, for example, lost no time in contacting their customers to offer special device upgrade terms if they signed up to another three-year contract.
That same day, IC Minister Christian Paradis elected to make his announcement from his Ottawa office and his message was loud and clear. The terms of the 2008 AWS spectrum auction were sacrosanct and, as a result, TELUS’ bid to acquire cash-strapped Mobilicity (along with its spectrum and quarter million subscribers) for $380 million was blocked. This comes on the heels of IC’s signalling its disapproval earlier this year of Shaw’s proposal to sell its unused spectrum (also acquired in that same auction) to Rogers, forcing both companies to shelve that agreement until at least mid-2014 at which time the AWS auction terms will permit consideration of such deals. And, finally, the Minister indicated a three-month delay in the long-awaited 700 MHz spectrum auction. The application deadline will now be September 17, 2013, and the auction will commence on January 14,2014 so as provide companies with additional time to consider these decisions and fnalize their approaches to the auction.
Not to be left out of the limelight, also on Tuesday, Ericsson announced a plan to build a 40,000-square-metre data centre in the Montreal area with operations beginning in early-2015. The facility will be one of only a few such data centres to be built globally by the company. It will bring together the company’s complete product portfolio in a single location where Ericsson can innovate and test its equipment, as well as research and development. It will also provide a venue where customers can trial and test Ericsson equipment before finalizing purchase agreements.
CTS always strives to provide lively debate on current issues through keynotes, plenaries and discussion panels. This year’s new topic was “The Revolution of TV: Content Anywhere and Anyhow” – in other words TV Everywhere. While hardly falling under the heading of traditional telecom, TVE is a hot subject right now because of the impact it is having on all service providers’ network plans. And, that is why TVE is Nottingham Communications’ major summer project this year. TV is clearly on the mind of M. Blais also. This past Wednesday, speaking at the Banff World Media festival, the CRTC Chair said it was high time to evaluate whether or not current TV industry regulations “still hold true.” He said the planned consultations will include input from consumers as well as service providers, content owners and broadcasters. About time, in our opinion!
We live in interesting times. This is not a curse but a blessing…..