[Advisors] TC -- moving ahead in 2015

Thu Jan 22 10:04:11 PST 2015

Well, when the CAP organization came along looking for an umbrella under 
which to promote its common interests, TC was a natural home for such 
activity.  I think promoting community broadband has always been part of 
our mandate as a space for people concerned about the uses of ICTs for 
community development in Canada.  Sounds like a pretty natural fit.  Let 
the discussions begin.

Marita

On 1/22/2015 12:28 AM, James Van Leeuwen wrote:
> I've spent most of the last year at the working face of Canada's 
> nascent community broadband 'movement'.
>
> Interest is growing rapidly, and there is now a sufficiently strong 
> footprint of initiative across Canada to get the attention of senior 
> government and the regulator.
>
> Regional initiatives are making the biggest waves, especially the 
> SWIFT network initiative in southwestern Ontario:
>
>
> That said, there is still a serious lack of advocacy for community 
> broadband in Canada, compared to the United States:
>
> www.bbcmag.com <http://www.bbcmag.com>
> www.ftthcouncil.org <http://www.ftthcouncil.org>
> www.muninetworks.org <http://www.muninetworks.org>
> www.ruraltelecon.org <http://www.ruraltelecon.org>
> www.ntca.org <http://www.ntca.org>
> www.ilsr.org <http://www.ilsr.org>
>
> An American firm, Magellan Advisers, just won the bid to conduct a 
> broadband feasibility study for Strathcona County, a rural local 
> government here in Alberta in immediate proximity to Edmonton.
>
> Several Canadian firms responded to the RFP, including a colleague 
> I've been partnering with on a regional broadband strategy for the 
> Alberta SouthWest Regional Economic Development Alliance.
>
> My colleague previously developed the business case, business model 
> and business plan for the FTTH deployment in Olds, and now sits on the 
> governance board of Olds Fibre Ltd. (a.k.a. O-Net, www.o-net.ca 
> <http://www.o-net.ca>).
>
> He was unquestionably the most qualified bidder for the specified 
> scope of work, and also had the advantage of actually living in 
> Strathcona County - he was highly accessible.
>
> We think he was overlooked because the U.S. has a much stronger 
> footprint in community broadband, and Magellan is the heaviest hitter 
> in the U.S. service sector for community broadband.
>
> Magellan doesn't know a damned thing about Canada, but nobody ever got 
> fired for hiring a strong brand name.
>
> I expect this will be costly for Strathcona County, and I don't mean 
> higher mobilization costs.
>
>
> If Canadian firms are to compete effectively in the emerging 
> community/municipal broadband market, they will need advocacy as well.
>
> There is a pressing need for an agency to provide exposure, advocacy 
> and guidance for community broadband in Canada, for the benefit of 
> smaller communities first and foremost, but also for the growing 
> service sector that communities and regional collaborations will 
> require in order to establish and advance initiatives most effectively.
>
> I had hoped that iCANADA would evolve into this agency, but the lure 
> of branding and consulting dollars seems to have pulled the initiative 
> strongly towards the supply side of Canada's tech and telecom 
> industries (incumbents).
>
> iCANADA now appears to be a Canadian extension of the Intelligent 
> Community Forum, which is based in New York City 
> (www.intelligentcommunity.org <http://www.intelligentcommunity.org>).
>
> The ICF is naturally biased towards the interests of larger urban 
> centers, which are already far better served with broadband and also 
> with advocacy (votes), thank you very much.
>
> For smaller communities across North America, the Intelligent 
> Community brand is generally a marketing liability.
>
>
> Efforts are now underway to frame an initiative that would effectively 
> advance the interests of Canadian communities large AND small.
>
> I'm presently on the outside looking in, but I will jump at the 
> opportunity to get involved as the initiative unfolds.
>
> As a policy shop with a Canadian focus, TC could bring relevant and 
> immediate capacity to this proposed agency.
>
> You can see where I'm headed with this, but I'm already getting ahead 
> of myself.
>
> For now, the only opportunity may be for TC to become involved in the 
> framing discussion.
>
> If the TC Board and membership are amenable, I would like to explore 
> this possibility and report back.
>
> JvL
>
>
>
>
>> On Jan 21, 2015, at 3:52 PM, Peter Frampton <pframpton at lefca.org 
>> <mailto:pframpton at lefca.org>> wrote:
>>
>> I think your suggestions are good ones.
>> Wondering also if we could see if the members might be traveling to a 
>> conference or whatever - to arrange a face to face.
>> The National Social Enterprise Conference will be held in London 
>> Ontario in April.
>> Is anyone planning to attend
>> could we piggy back something
>>
>> if so - I can reach out to friends/partners there and find some free 
>> space
>>
>>
>>
>> Peter Frampton
>> Executive Director
>> The Learning Enrichment Foundation
>> 116 Industry St
>> Toronto, Ontario
>> M6M 4L8
>> P: 416-769-0830
>> F: 416-769-9912
>> E: pframpton at lefca.org <mailto:pframpton at lefca.org>
>> www.lefca.org <http://www.lefca.org/>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 2015-01-20, at 8:16 PM, Marita Moll <mmoll at ca.inter.net 
>> <mailto:mmoll at ca.inter.net>> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Hello advisors.  As we are still in January, I don't think it is too 
>>> late to wish all of you the best for 2015.  It may be cold and still 
>>> pretty dark outside most of our windows, but at least we are moving 
>>> toward those precious long warm summer days we are all waiting for. 
>>>  The TC list has been very quiet for the last couple of months.  I 
>>> think we all took some time to recover from the sadness of losing 
>>> Gareth last year.  But, it is time now to think about how to move 
>>> forward with TC.
>>>
>>> In the final months of 2014 and with the help of John Wilkinson, a 
>>> Toronto lawyer who came to our assistance thanks to miracle worker 
>>> Peter Frampton, TC is once again on solid ground with respect to NGO 
>>> status.
>>>
>>> TC is still the only organization of its kind in Canada, with a 20 
>>> year history of connections into community networking sites around 
>>> the country, with the potential to reach some of that elusive 
>>> grassroots constituency that politicians, pollsters and lobbyists 
>>> crave for.  We have had success in the past, sharing strategies to 
>>> keep CAP going for longer than it would have otherwise and 
>>> contributing to research and policy on digital strategies.  We are 
>>> still very involved in national (CIRA, ISOC) and international 
>>> organizations  (ICANN, NARALO).  Needs and priorities have changed 
>>> and strategies need to change as well.  But there is still a lot of 
>>> value in this organization if we figure out how to use it.
>>>
>>> A current urgent need is find a way to begin holding regular 
>>> meetings again.  The teleconferencing service that we were using is 
>>> no longer available to us.  In the past we used a service called 
>>> Freeconferencecall.com <http://freeconferencecall.com/> 
>>> (https://www.freeconferencecall.com 
>>> <https://www.freeconferencecall.com/>).  It worked pretty well but 
>>> did entail long distance charges for those calling in, which 
>>> generally does not amount to a lot these days, but could still be a 
>>> deterrent for some.  I am looking for suggestions re: other options.
>>>
>>> Once we resolve the communication issue, we need to set up a meeting 
>>> to address some issues relating to the executive, review our mandate 
>>> and set some goals and objectives for 2015.
>>>
>>> Looking forward to hearing from you.
>>>
>>> Marita
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Advisors mailing list
>>> Advisors at tc.ca <mailto:Advisors at tc.ca>
>>> http://victoria.tc.ca/mailman/listinfo/advisors
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Advisors mailing list
>> Advisors at tc.ca <mailto:Advisors at tc.ca>
>> http://victoria.tc.ca/mailman/listinfo/advisors
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://victoria.tc.ca/pipermail/advisors/attachments/20150122/e48d35e0/attachment.html>